Brian Selznick

{{short description|American illustrator and writer (born 1966)}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Brian Selznick

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1966|7|14}}

| birth_place = East Brunswick Township, New Jersey

| image = D03 9553 Brian Selznick (cropped).jpg

| caption = Selznick at the 2018 National Book Festival

| spouse = David Serlin

| occupation = Illustrator, writer

| nationality = American

| period = 1991–present

| genre = Children's picture books, historical novels

| subject = Biography, history

| notableworks = {{plainlist|

Frindle
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Wonderstruck
The Marvels
Kaleidoscope

}}

| awards = Caldecott Medal (2008)

Inkpot Award (2017)[https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot Inkpot Award]

| relatives = David O. Selznick (first cousin twice removed)

}}

Brian Selznick (born July 14, 1966) is an American illustrator and author best known as the writer of The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007), Wonderstruck (2011), The Marvels (2015) and Kaleidoscope (2021). He won the 2008 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration recognizing The Invention of Hugo Cabret."Caldecott Medal & Honor Books, 1938–Present" He is also known for illustrating children's books such as the covers of Scholastic's 20th-anniversary editions of the Harry Potter series.

Life and career

Selznick, the oldest of three children of a Jewish family, was born and grew up in East Brunswick, New Jersey, where he graduated in 1984 from East Brunswick High School.{{cite news|last=Bloom|first=Nate|title=Jewish Stars 11/25|newspaper=Cleveland Jewish News|date=November 25, 2011|url=https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/archives/jewish-stars/article_6c991e5c-15ff-11e1-a419-001cc4c03286.html}}{{Cite web|url=https://www1.gmnews.com/2004/09/01/obituaries-612/|title = Obituaries – Central Jersey Archives}}Makin, Cheryl. [https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/entertainment/2018/04/10/east-brunswicks-selznick-makes-harry-potter-magic/499604002/ "Harry Potter anniversary edition covers designed by East Brunswick's Brian Selznick"], Courier News, April 10, 2018. Accessed June 25, 2019. "As a child, Selznick started on his artistic career path by fashioning tin foil sculptures in his parents' East Brunswick kitchen and taking local art classes. A 1984 graduate of East Brunswick High School, Selznick, who went onto study at Rhode Island School of Design, published his first book, The Houdini Box, in 1991 while working in a children's bookstore in New York." He is the son of Lynn (Samson) and Roger E. Selznick.{{Cite web|url=http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/brian_speech.htm|title = The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick}} His grandfather was a cousin of Hollywood producer David O. Selznick.{{cite web |access-date=July 7, 2015 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/11/brian-selznick-hugo-martin-scorsese |title=Brian Selznick: how Scorsese's Hugo drew inspiration from his magical book |work=The Guardian |date=February 11, 2012}} 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 The Houdini Box, about a boy's chance encounter with Harry Houdini and its aftermath. It became his debut work, a 56-page picture book published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1991.[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/247711727 "The Houdini box"]. WorldCat. Retrieved February 20, 2013.

Selznick won the 2008 Caldecott Medal from the American Library Association for the year's best-illustrated picture book, recognizing The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Its Caldecott Medal was the first for a long book, 533 pages with 284 pictures. Selznick calls it "not exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things."{{Cite book |isbn = 978-0439813785|title = The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures|last1 = Selznick|first1 = Brian|year = 2007}} At the time it was "by far the longest and most involved book I’ve ever worked on." It has inspired students to action, including a fourth-grade class that staged a silent film festival and a group of fifth graders who turned the book into a 30-minute modern dance.

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 recounting 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, envisioned a young boy stealing an automaton from the garbage. The Invention of Hugo Cabret was adapted as a film, Hugo, by director Martin Scorsese and released in November 2011.{{cite web |access-date=November 11, 2010 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10459404 |title=Jude Law and Sir Christopher Lee join Scorsese film |work=BBC News |date=June 30, 2010}}

Selznick cites Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, and Remy Charlip, author of Fortunately, as strong influences on his books The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck.

Before winning the 2008 Caldecott Medal, Selznick had been a runner-up for the award, winning a Caldecott Honor in 2002 for The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins: An Illuminating History of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, Artist and Lecturer. Other awards include the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Rhode Island Children's Book Award, and the Christopher Award.

Works

=As writer=

[http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/28/selznick_serlin.php "A Buried History of Paleontology"], by Selznick and David Serlin, Cabinet 28: Bones (Winter 2007/08)
The Hugo Movie Companion: A Behind the Scenes Look at How a Beloved Book Became a Major Motion Picture; with additional material by Martin Scorsese and David Serlin (Scholastic, 2011)
The Wonderstruck Movie Scrapbook (Scholastic, 2017)

=As writer and illustrator=

The Houdini Box (1991)
The Robot King (1995)
Boy of a Thousand Faces (2000)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007), historical steampunk novel
Wonderstruck (2011), a historical novel
The Marvels (2015)
Baby Monkey, Private Eye (2018), early reader by Brian Selznick and David Serlin
Kaleidoscope (2021)
Big Tree (2023)
Run Away With Me (April 2025){{Cite web |date=2024-07-11 |title=Young adult novel by Brian Selznick, 'Run Away With Me,' to be published next April |url=https://apnews.com/article/brian-selznick-novel-run-away-with-me-9b88d406b3a484fff6527ccf535e94b6 |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=AP News |language=en}}

=As illustrator=

Doll Face Has a Party (1994), picture book by Pam Conrad
Our House: stories of Levittown (1995), by Pam Conrad — about Levittown
Frindle (1996), novella by Andrew Clements
The Boy Who Longed for a Lift (1997), picture book by Norma Farber
Riding Freedom (1998), by Pam Muñoz Ryan — about Charley Parkhurst, fictionalized
Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride: based on a true story (1999), by Pam Muñoz Ryan — about Amelia Earhart fictionalized
Barnyard Prayers (2000), picture book by Laura Godwin
The Doll People (2000), novel by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin
The Landry News (2000, paperback), novella by Andrew Clements (1999)
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins (2001), by Barbara Kerley — about Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins
The School Story (2001), by Andrew Clements
When Marian Sang (2002), by Pam Muñoz Ryan — about Marian Anderson
Wingwalker (2002), by Rosemary Wells
The Dulcimer Boy (2003), novel by Tor Seidler
The Meanest Doll in the World (2003), by Martin and Godwin, book 2
Walt Whitman: words for America (2004), by Barbara Kerley — about Walt Whitman
Lunch Money (2005), novel by Andrew Clements
Marly's Ghost: a remix of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (2006), by David Levithan
The Runaway Dolls (2008), by Martin and Godwin, book 3
12: a novel (2009, Feiwel and Friends; {{ISBN|9780312370213}}; also Twelve)
Live Oak, with Moss (2019){{Cite magazine |title=The Enduring Mystery of Walt Whitman's Meditation on Love and Sexuality |url=https://time.com/5560059/whitman-live-oak-with-moss/ |access-date=2022-06-15 |magazine=Time |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2019-04-01 |title=Comics Book Review: Live Oak, with Moss by Walt Whitman |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781419734052 |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}{{Cite web |date=2019-05-17 |title=Brian Selznick Communicates Wordlessly with Walt Whitman in Abram's 'Live Oak, with Moss', PopMatters |url=https://www.popmatters.com/live-oak-moss-whitman-selznick-2637391115.html |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=PopMatters |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title='Live Oak, with Moss' {{!}} All Of It |url=https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/all-of-it/segments/brian-selznick-live-oak-moss |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=WNYC Studios |language=en}}

References

{{reflist |refs=

[http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/about_brian_bio.htm "Biography"]. Brian Selznick (theinventionofhugocabret.com). Retrieved February 20, 2013.

Summary: "Twelve prominent children's authors take turns writing the chapters in this novel about a twelve-year-old girl, puberty, and meddling mythological gods and goddesses."
[https://archive.today/20130308173114/http://lccn.loc.gov/2008015260 "12: a novel"]. Library of Congress Catalog Record (LCC). Retrieved 2013-02-20.

Summary: "Brian Selznick takes readers on an intimate tour of the movie-making process ..."-- Amazon.com.
[https://archive.today/20130308173317/http://lccn.loc.gov/2011019008 "The Hugo movie companion : a behind the scenes look at how a beloved book..."]. LCC record. Retrieved 2013-02-20.

Summary: "A visually driven, widely accessible companion book to the movie adaptation of Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck"-- Provided by publisher [Scholastic].
[https://lccn.loc.gov/2017042919 "The Wonderstruck movie scrapbook"]. LCC record. Retrieved 2024-02-21.

{{cite news |author=Rich, Motoko |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/books/26selznick.html |title=Reads Like a Book, Looks Like a Film |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 26, 2008 |access-date=November 11, 2010}}

{{cite web|title=Caldecott Medal & Honor Books, 1938–Present|url=http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal.cfm|work=Awards and Grants|publisher=Association for Library Service to Children. American Library Association |access-date=October 10, 2011 }}

{{cite journal|last=Selznick|first=Brian|title=Caldecott Medal Acceptance Speech: Make the Book You Want to Make|journal=Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children|year=2008|volume=6|issue=2|pages=10–12|url=http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=60782c69-71bd-4d4a-87cb-65bee6935c06%40sessionmgr110&vid=13&hid=113|access-date=October 10, 2011}}{{Dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{cite journal|last=Stewart|first=Andrew|title=Pupils Call for Silents|journal=Variety|date=June 22, 2009|volume=415|issue=6|pages=3 |url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/42209876/pupils-call-silents |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117152329/http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/42209876/pupils-call-silents |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 17, 2015 |access-date=November 16, 2015}}

{{cite news|last=Toroian Keaggy|first=Diane|title=Selznick earns a gold sticker and kids' acclaim|url=http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=60782c69-71bd-4d4a-87cb-65bee6935c06%40sessionmgr110&vid=6&hid=113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=n5h&AN=2W63429849853|newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)|date=October 9, 2009|access-date=October 10, 2011}}{{Dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

}}

External links

[https://www.brianselznick.com Official Website]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110123083810/http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=1301_type=Contributor_typeId=3180 Interview by Scholastic students]
[http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/selznick Brian Selznick at Reading Rockets], includes video interview
{{isfdb name|7705}}
{{LCAuth|n90689711|Brian Selznick|28|}}
[https://www.bigtreethebook.com Big Tree]
[https://www.kaleidoscopebook.com Kaleidoscope]
[http://www.babymonkeyprivateeye.com Baby Monkey, Private Eye] by Brian Selznick and Doctor David Serlin
[http://www.themarvelsthebook.com The Marvels]
[http://www.wonderstruckthebook.com Wonderstruck]
[http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com The Invention of Hugo Cabret]