The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures
by Brian Selznick
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Available at: Amazon

An orphan, a notebook, and a mechanical man: the marvelous dream of this novel, which features nearly 300 drawings, yokes together these disparate figures in a journey through a nineteenth-century Parisian train station. Hugo Cabret is an enterprising and inventive boy whose adventures will keep readers in suspense; his persistence is not only admirable but also heartening. What he invents is a way of being in the world, which is anything but automatic. What he discovers—well, read on.

Hugo Cabret: Illustration from The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Copyright 2007 by Brian Selznick. Use with permission from Scholastic Press.

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A prominent Egyptian illustrator and writer explores the mysterious sources of his inspiration, collecting images and ideas from his surroundings, memories, and dreams to sketch a portrait of an artist whose apprenticeship into his craft can serve as a model for anyone interested in the creative life. This book reads from right to left, as if it was composed in Arabic, and the calligraphy, pictures, and reflections will give readers a sense of what it means to “dream from right to left!”

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
by Peter Sís
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Available at: Amazon

What was like it like to grow up in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War? This non-fiction account of Sís's early years will appeal to, and instruct, readers of every age. One of the great illustrators of the day has turned his attention to his own life, in a time and place that with each year looks ever stranger, darker, and more frightening. What saved the boy was his attention to the world around him, his imagination, and his talent, all of which are on abundant display in The Wall.

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