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cmbohn's review
5.0
This was a weird, magical sort of book that I picked up at the library for my son. He loved it so much he bugged me to read it too. So I picked it up to read today while my pie was in the oven.
The book wasn't at all what I expected. The beginning was as I thought, but it took a strange and wonderful turn and continued on, surprising me with every page and illustration. Really a fantastic book to read to children and worth looking for.
The book wasn't at all what I expected. The beginning was as I thought, but it took a strange and wonderful turn and continued on, surprising me with every page and illustration. Really a fantastic book to read to children and worth looking for.
just_fighting_censorship's review
2.0
It pains me to give this book such a low review but, quite honestly, I was bored. The plot, characters, and setting, were all secondary to the atmosphere and emotion of the book, therefore I think the story deserved to be told through pictures rather than words. As I was reading I thought to myself, how much better would this be if it were a wordless book? The answer is it could have been a 4 or 5 star book. I think that the surrealist magic of the story would have been more pronounced and make a bigger impact if Selznick's beautiful and detailed pictures told the story instead. The feeling of this story reminds me of some of my favorite wordless books- [b:Tuesday|97860|Tuesday|David Wiesner|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328870556s/97860.jpg|3036058], [b:Journey|17262290|Journey|Aaron Becker|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1367256642s/17262290.jpg|23859090], and [b:Sector 7|29313|Sector 7|David Wiesner|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348553472s/29313.jpg|29775]. I cannot imagine any of these magical stories being told in any other way. Brian Sleznick's artwork is strong and enchanting but his writing is boring and clumsy, he should play to his strengths but instead he wasted a good story.
Skip this one and read [b:The Invention of Hugo Cabret|9673436|The Invention of Hugo Cabret|Brian Selznick|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327879761s/9673436.jpg|527941] instead.
Skip this one and read [b:The Invention of Hugo Cabret|9673436|The Invention of Hugo Cabret|Brian Selznick|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327879761s/9673436.jpg|527941] instead.
maryposa's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting little read. I picked this one up on a whim at the library and after browsing the first couple pages, decided it was worth a go. I feel a little bad about only the three stars, maybe three and a half. It felt to me like the beginnings of something beautiful and amazing that just wasn't fully developed. Though, I did enjoy the understated description of the magic.
emkoshka's review against another edition
3.0
An enchanting and whimsical book that can be read in one sitting. The story is quite underdeveloped, but it feels like Selznick was exploring ideas that he later expanded on in The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Beautiful illustrations (my favourite was the flying bicycles).
bookishcb_21's review against another edition
4.0
Very detailed illustrations & went well with the story. A little different than what I’m used to reading by Selznick, but was still a good read.
booksandbosox's review against another edition
3.0
Not as good as Hugo Cabret, but interesting to see what Selznick did in his earlier work.
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