A Weak Moment

Is children's literature acceptable as pop culture on this blog?

Probably not, but I guess I get to decide the rules. So, just for today, I'm blogging books.

I was at the library to tutor and decided to pick up a few books for the week. I went with casual fiction, most of which I've been meaning to read for years.

• Salman Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown
• Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club
• Toni Morrison's Jazz
• John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
• Brian Selznick's The Invention of Huge Cabret

So, it was on the children's literature award winning books (mostly Newbery winners). I was intrigued because it was twice as thick as any other book. So I opened it and discovered a most unique approach to literature! The author calls it "A Novel in Words and Pictures". Think literature meets comics (er, pardon me, "graphic novels").

Today's book is . . .
Brian Selznick's The Invention of Huge Cabret (2007)

Just started, but enjoyed it. A radical concept that forces the reader to slow down. The images give more detail, the sketches have fine nuances. He even gives a strong sense of motion by zooming in from one page to the next. Then, there's the pages of words . . . well-written and engaging.