Post by Mark T. Locker.

A great event for American children’s literature occurred on this day in 1966. Illustrator and author Brian Selznick was born! Perhaps you have read one of his remarkable picture book-meets-novels, Wonderstruck or The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Hugo Cabret is an amazing novel all about magic and early filmmakers, automata and a boy who lives in the walls of a Paris train station. It has huge segments that read like a silent film. It was made into a pretty good movie by Martin Scorsese. He has also illustration literally zillions of books for other authors. Okay, maybe not zillions, but a number of books. My favorites is The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins which tells the story of the British gentleman who assembled the first dinosaur bones into what he believed them to have looked like. Famously (well, famously if you were a dinsoaur nerd as a kid) he thought the iguanadon walked on fours and had a horn on its nose, like a giant iguana/rhinoceros mashup. We now know it actually has spikes on its thumbs, goodness knows why.

Another great book he illustrated was When Marian Sang about the amazing African American singer Marian Anderson who was forbidden from performing places due to her color. It is a wonderful story and beautifully illustrated.

There are more books that he has illustrated and/or written than I can list here but I encourage you to fill your child’s or nephew’s or your own head with the fantastic drawings and stories of David Selznick.

Happy reading!