What In Tarnation?!?!? In the Classroom

A few literary selections from children’s literature that I have read. Both of the following books are similar in that the illustrations are a big and important component of these books. Yet both have very different styles.

First up is the Invention of Hugo Cabret. Like many children’s books that I have read, this one was suggested by my mother. She showed it to me shortly after I finished the last Harry Potter novel. When I first looked at the book, I thought that she was kidding. As you can see from the picture on the right, this is a hefty book. This is the kind of book that kids would check out of the library just to carry around to impress other kids with the size of the book that they are reading. The book is Harry big. Initially, I wasn’t interested in starting another long, epic novel. Then she said that I could probably read it in an hour or so. That really caught my attention. So I picked it up. Here is the book description from Amazon.com:

Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo’s dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

Reading the description, the book sounds like a mishmash of random things. Clock keeper… key… mechanical man… the book also tells quite a bit of film history as well. There is a bunch of things going on in the novel and it the author, Brian Selznick, manages to pull them all together. But what made this 500+ page novel an hour read? Selznick who is also the illustrator uses drawings to tell the story. The novel has relatively short chapters broken up with some very nice and detailed illustrations that would continue the story by showing the action through pictures. It all comes together with very nice effect. The history of film, however, might hender some younger readers and they might need some assistance understanding some of those concepts.

Update: I just discovered that the movie rights for this book have been purchased. Martin Scorsese might direct.

WIT’s rating:

Another book that I recently finished is called Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. This book caught my attention a couple of bookstores and I finally gave in and bought it. The story is told through the diary entries of Greg, a rather small middle schooler as well as some rather whimsical illustrations. There were several moments while reading the book that I was chuckling out loud to myself.

A short description from Publisher’s Weekend:

Middle school student Greg Heffley takes readers through an academic year’s worth of drama. Greg’s mother forces him to keep a diary (”I know what it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I specifically told her to get one that didn’t say ‘diary’ on it”), and in it he loosely recounts each day’s events, interspersed with his comic illustrations. Kinney has a gift for believable preteen dialogue and narration (e.g., “Don’t expect me to be all ‘Dear Diary’ this and ‘Dear Diary’ that”), and the illustrations serve as a hilarious counterpoint to Greg’s often deadpan voice. The hero’s utter obliviousness to his friends and family becomes a running joke. For instance, on Halloween, Greg and his best friend, Rowley, take refuge from some high school boys at Greg’s grandmother’s house; they taunt the bullies, who then T.P. her house. Greg’s journal entry reads, “I do feel a little bad, because it looked like it was gonna take a long time to clean up. But on the bright side, Gramma is retired, so she probably didn’t have anything planned for today anyway.” Kinney ably skewers familiar aspects of junior high life, from dealing with the mysteries of what makes someone popular to the trauma of a “wrestling unit” in gym class. His print debut should keep readers in stitches, eagerly anticipating Greg’s further adventures. Ages 8-13.

After doing some reading on the Internet, I discovered that this book actually started with a webcomic on funbrain.com. You can also read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid blog.

Funny book though there are a few things that parents might want to watch with younger readers. The afore mentioned wrestling unit comes to mind when Greg realizes that while the gym teacher is demonstrating some wrestling moves he feels a draft of wind in the crotchal region. Additionally, Greg is a typical middle schooler and is pretty disrespectful to just about everyone around him.

That said, I think kids will really enjoy the book and they will look forward to the sequel coming out in the beginning of 08 called Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules! I am looking forward to it.

WIT rating:

But remember, you don’t have to take my word for it.

Let me know if you read these books in the comments

Class dismissed!