Both Novels by Brian Selznick

Do you want to know the truth? As a member of Goodreads, I have signed up to read 20 books this year. My goal is to read more than that. You see, I set a relatively low goal so I can feel good about myself when I surpass it. I know it's ridiculous, yet I feed into it regardless.

Enter these two books. If you are familiar with the movie "Hugo" that was an Oscar-nom this past season, well, it was based on the book by Brian Selznick. Selznick also recently published "Wonderstruck," too. They are large books, over 500 pages each. I read each book in a few hours.

I wish I was a speed reader. The books are mostly pencil drawings that help tell the story. Steph said I was reading picture books. This is true. And they helped me go further in my goal.

But they are good books. And they're not just picture books. They have words, too.

"Hugo" takes real life people and events and mixes them up with a fictional character. Hugo is without parents and his alcoholic uncle (who showed him how to fix the clocks inside the Gare Montparnasse) goes missing -- so he takes care of the clocks by himself. He steals from a toy seller to help rebuild an automaton that Hugo's father was working on. Hugo hopes that it will give him some kind of answer about his father and his past. Instead, it opens up his future. 


The other book tells a parallel story about a little girl from the 40's and a little boy from the 70's. They both make trips to New York by themselves in search of something, and they find people that change their lives. 


I've been reading a lot of young adult literature lately, and I almost find it more entertaining than adult books because they deal with more innocent topics that anyone can relate to. I am also losing interest in writing a book review about these two books. 


They are good. You should read them. End of story.