Two Picture Books

While currently visiting my sister in northeastern Nevada I have had the opportunity to peruse two picture books for children. I was impressed and delighted with both. Each provide lavish and interesting illustrations intertwined with provocative narratives.
One of the books, The Wall by Peter Sis, is a memoir of his childhood growing up behind the Iron Curtain in the former Republic of Czechoslovakia. Line drawings and personal photographs tell the history of the boy's world as he experiences the world. His own passion for drawing is the inspiration that infuses the book with joy and spirit and, in the end, inspires the reader as well.
The other book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, is both fantasy and mystery of a young boy in Paris whose life and search for the meaning of secrets is told through an amazing mixture of text, pictures, and graphics that at times tell the story by themselves. This is an exciting book to read and it was no surprise when I noticed it held a place on the most recent New York Times Book Review children's book bestseller list.
Both of these "children's" books are worth spending time reading and prove thought-provoking for readers of all ages.


The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Scholastic Press, New York. 2007.
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis. Farrar Straus & Giroux, New York. 2007.