Brian Selznick
Encyclopedia
Brian Selznick is a Caldecott-winning American author and illustrator of children's books.
. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design
and then worked for three years at Eeyore's Books for Children in Manhattan
while working on his first book, The Houdini Box.
Selznick received the 2008 Caldecott Medal
for The Invention of Hugo Cabret
. He also won the Caldecott Honor for The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins in 2002. Additional awards include the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Rhode Island Children's Book Award, and the Christopher Award
. The Invention of Hugo Cabret has also inspired students to action, including a fourth grade class staging a silent film festival, and a group of fifth graders who turned the book into a 30 minute modern dance.
He is a first cousin, twice removed, of David O. Selznick
and Myron Selznick
.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret was made into a film by director Martin Scorsese
and released in November 2011. The Invention of Hugo Cabret follows a young orphan in Paris in the 1930s as he tries to piece together a broken automaton
. The book was inspired by a passage in the book Edison’s Eve by Gaby Wood that tells of the collection of automata
that belonged to Georges Méliès
. After his death they were thrown away by the museum that he donated them to. Selznick, a fan of Méliès and automata
, was fascinated, envisioning a young boy stealing an automata from the garbage.
Selznik cites Maurice Sendak
, author of Where the Wild Things Are, and Remy Charlip
, author of Fortunately, as strong influences into his revolutionary books The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck.
Life and career
Selznick was born in East Brunswick Township, New JerseyEast Brunswick Township, New Jersey
The town is located southwest of New York City and 48 miles northeast of Philadelphia.Lawrence Brook, a tributary of the Raritan River, runs along the western border of the township...
. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...
and then worked for three years at Eeyore's Books for Children in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
while working on his first book, The Houdini Box.
Selznick received the 2008 Caldecott Medal
Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children , a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published that year. The award was named in honor of nineteenth-century English...
for The Invention of Hugo Cabret
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a historical-fiction book written and illustrated by Brian Selznick and published by Scholastic Press. The hardcover edition was released on January 30, 2007, and the paperback edition was released on June 2, 2008. With 284 pictures between the book's 533 pages, the...
. He also won the Caldecott Honor for The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins in 2002. Additional awards include the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Rhode Island Children's Book Award, and the Christopher Award
Christopher Award
The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
. The Invention of Hugo Cabret has also inspired students to action, including a fourth grade class staging a silent film festival, and a group of fifth graders who turned the book into a 30 minute modern dance.
He is a first cousin, twice removed, of David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
and Myron Selznick
Myron Selznick
Myron Selznick was an American film producer and talent agent.-Life and career:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Selznick was the son of film executive Lewis J. Selznick and brother of renowned producer David O. Selznick...
.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret was made into a film by director Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
and released in November 2011. The Invention of Hugo Cabret follows a young orphan in Paris in the 1930s as he tries to piece together a broken automaton
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
. The book was inspired by a passage in the book Edison’s Eve by Gaby Wood that tells of the collection of automata
Automata
Automata is the plural form of automaton, a self-operating machine. It may also refer to:* "Automata", a short story by E. T. A. Hoffmann* "Automata", a hardboiled science fiction crime series by Penny Arcade...
that belonged to Georges Méliès
Georges Méliès
Georges Méliès , full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was very innovative in the use of special effects...
. After his death they were thrown away by the museum that he donated them to. Selznick, a fan of Méliès and automata
Automata
Automata is the plural form of automaton, a self-operating machine. It may also refer to:* "Automata", a short story by E. T. A. Hoffmann* "Automata", a hardboiled science fiction crime series by Penny Arcade...
, was fascinated, envisioning a young boy stealing an automata from the garbage.
Selznik cites Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Early life:...
, author of Where the Wild Things Are, and Remy Charlip
Remy Charlip
Abraham Remy' Charlip is an American artist, writer, choreographer, theatre director, designer and teacher.-Career:He studied art at Straubenmuller Textile High School in Manhattan and fine arts at Cooper Union in New York, graduating in 1949.In the 1960s Charlip created a unique form of...
, author of Fortunately, as strong influences into his revolutionary books The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck.
Works
- WonderstruckWonderstruck (book)Wonderstruck is a historical-fiction book written and illustrated by Brian Selznick and published by Scholastic Press . The hardcover edition was released on September 13, 2011...
, Author: Brian Selznick (2011) - The Invention of Hugo CabretThe Invention of Hugo CabretThe Invention of Hugo Cabret is a historical-fiction book written and illustrated by Brian Selznick and published by Scholastic Press. The hardcover edition was released on January 30, 2007, and the paperback edition was released on June 2, 2008. With 284 pictures between the book's 533 pages, the...
, Author: Brian Selznick (2007) - Boy of a Thousand Faces, Author: Brian Selznick (2000)
- The Robot King, Author: Brian Selznick (1995)
- The Houdini Box, Author: Brian Selznick (1991)
Works illustrated by Selznick
- Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride: Based on a True Story, Author: Pam Munoz RyanPam Muñoz RyanPam Muñoz Ryan is a Mexican-American author.Muñoz Ryan began writing when she was encouraged by a professor while in graduate school. "It took me a number or years to make that leap of faith," she states when commenting on becoming a full-time writer...
- Barnyard Prayers, Author: Laura Godwin
- The Boy Who Longed for a Lift, Author Norma FarberNorma FarberNorma Holzmann Farber was an American children's book writer and poet. The Poetry Society of America presents the Norma Farber First Book Award; it is presented for a first book of original poetry written by an American.-Life:...
- The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, Author: Barbara Kerley
- Doll Face Has a Party, Author Pam ConradPam ConradPam Conrad was an author for children. Her book Our House: Stories of Levittown was a Newbery Medal finalist.Ms. Conrad was born in New York City and graduated the New School for Social Research.-Books:*Holding Me Here...
- The Doll PeopleThe Doll PeopleThe Doll People is a children's novel written by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin. It is illustrated by Brian Selznick, the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It tells a story about the imaginary world of dolls when no one is watching. A doll made of china and her new best friend made of plastic...
, Author: Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin - The Dulcimer Boy, Author: Tor Seidler
- FrindleFrindleFrindle is a 1996 children's novel written by American author Andrew Clements and illustrated by Brian Selznick.Frindle is Clements's first novel. All his previous works had been picture books...
, Author: Andrew ClementsAndrew ClementsAndrew Clements is an American author of children's books. Clements grew up in Camden, New Jersey and Springfield, Illinois, United States,. As a child, he enjoyed summers at a lakeside cabin in Maine where he spent his days swimming and fishing and his evenings reading books... - The Landry NewsThe Landry NewsThe Landry News is a children's book by Andrew Clements first published in the United States in 1999 by Aladdin.-Plot summary:Cara Landry, a new student in Mr. Larson's 5th Grade classroom, publishes her own individual newspaper during her first year at Denton Elementary School titled "The Landry...
, Author: Andrew ClementsAndrew ClementsAndrew Clements is an American author of children's books. Clements grew up in Camden, New Jersey and Springfield, Illinois, United States,. As a child, he enjoyed summers at a lakeside cabin in Maine where he spent his days swimming and fishing and his evenings reading books...
(Paperback) - Lunch Money, Author: Andrew ClementsAndrew ClementsAndrew Clements is an American author of children's books. Clements grew up in Camden, New Jersey and Springfield, Illinois, United States,. As a child, he enjoyed summers at a lakeside cabin in Maine where he spent his days swimming and fishing and his evenings reading books...
- Marley's Ghost, Author David LevithanDavid LevithanDavid Levithan is an American young-adult fiction editor and award-winning author. His first book, Boy Meets Boy, was published in 2003...
- The Meanest Doll in the WorldThe Meanest Doll in the WorldThe Meanest Doll in the World is a children's novel by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin. First published in 2003, it is a sequel to The Doll People, featuring, like the other books in the series, dolls who are secretly alive.-Plot summary:...
, Author: Ann M. Martin and Laura Goodwin - Our House: Stories of Levittown, Author: Pam ConradPam ConradPam Conrad was an author for children. Her book Our House: Stories of Levittown was a Newbery Medal finalist.Ms. Conrad was born in New York City and graduated the New School for Social Research.-Books:*Holding Me Here...
- Riding Freedom, Author: Pam Munoz RyanPam Muñoz RyanPam Muñoz Ryan is a Mexican-American author.Muñoz Ryan began writing when she was encouraged by a professor while in graduate school. "It took me a number or years to make that leap of faith," she states when commenting on becoming a full-time writer...
- The Runaway Dolls, Author: Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin
- The School StoryThe School StoryThe School Story is a children's novel by Andrew Clements, published in 2001. It is about two twelve-year-old girls who try to get a school story published.-Plot summary:...
, Author: Andrew ClementsAndrew ClementsAndrew Clements is an American author of children's books. Clements grew up in Camden, New Jersey and Springfield, Illinois, United States,. As a child, he enjoyed summers at a lakeside cabin in Maine where he spent his days swimming and fishing and his evenings reading books... - Walt Whitman: Words for America, Author: Barbara Kerley
- When Marian Sang, Author: Pam Munoz RyanPam Muñoz RyanPam Muñoz Ryan is a Mexican-American author.Muñoz Ryan began writing when she was encouraged by a professor while in graduate school. "It took me a number or years to make that leap of faith," she states when commenting on becoming a full-time writer...
- Wingwalker, Author: Rosemary WellsRosemary WellsRosemary Wells is the author of a number of popular children's books, most notably the Max and Ruby series which follows the everyday adventures of sibling bunnies—curious three year old Max and bossy seven year old Ruby. She gets the inspiration for Max and Ruby from her three daughters and the...
- Wonderstruck, Author ((Brian Selznick))
- The Invention Of Hugo Cabret, Author ((Brian Selznick))