Why Brian Selznick Is the Nicest Guy In the World

I am a blogger. At this moment in history, bloggers have a unique position in this country. There is no universally acknowledged set of standards for bloggers. Essentially, I could write false rumors, lies, and libel to my heart's content and no one could really do anything to me about it. Be that as it may, I don't want to write false rumors, lies, and libel. I want to give you the most accurate information as quickly as possible and get y'all to trust me. That way, when I hold my hostile takeover of the ALSC I'll have millions of children's literature lovers supporting my divine reign. Mwah-ha-ha-ha!

Now what was I saying again? Oh yes. Truthiness. I want some of it. Well, the fact of the matter is that I'm only human. I make mistakes. Not too long ago on Friday, April 7th I posted glorious information about a new book by Brian Selznick that would, in my opinion, "suh-weep the nation". Unquote. And while I had the gist of the story correct, my posting with riddled RIDDLED with inaccuracies. Mr. Selznick read that posting and informed a mutual friend that I was a little off here and there. So when I see him this past Thursday April 27th speaking at my branch does he take me to task? Does he even mention my pseudo-reporting in any way shape or form? No, sir! We have a lovely conversation, he is charm incarnate, and even poses for a lovely picture as shown up above.

You can imagine my guilt then when I listened once again to Mr. Selznick's speech and found that I'd misinterpreted some of his earlier speechifying about his upcoming book, back in early April. So I shall now offer some corrections to my earlier posting.

What I Said: As of this meeting Selznick had 5 hours, no joke, to come up with a title for this book. He thought he might call it, “The Curious Invention of Hugo Cabrais”, so keep an ear out for anything along these lines in a year or so.

What I Should Have Said: If you'll recall, this was a reference to Selznick's upcoming 500 some page book with 300 some illustrations in it. The illustrations continue the story in a cinematic way. I reported the title inaccurately, even managing to misspell it. The real title will be, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret". Mea culpa.

What I Said: So Charlip is now the model for an upcoming Selznick book on the fellow who long ago brought us “A Trip To the Moon”.

What I Should Have Said: I was way off-base on this one. I thought Selznick was working on two separate books. One was "Hugo Cabret" and one a bio of Georges Melies, the creator of the silent film, "A Trip To the Moon". In fact, this is the same book. Selznick has cleverly intertwined true events from Melies's life within the context of this original story. The result will be remarkable. I could recount what I know of the real story and the story Selznick is writing here, but I think it'll be better if you wait and see the finished product for yourself.

Oh, one more thing. In his slideshow, Mr. Selznick displayed a shot of a mock-up of the book's cover. It's gorgeous (and this I can be accurate about). The cover is a beautiful multi-colored almost Art Deco cover. Then on the spine you have a kind of Les Miserables black-and-white shot of Hugo's face peering out at you with the title in tiny type at the bottom. And since the book will be wonderfully thick, you'll get quite a good swath of face peering out at you from your children's bookshelves. Manifique.