Seen Art?

Scieszka, Jon & Smith, Lane (Illustrator). Seen Art? Penguin Young Readers Group, 2005. ISBN 0-670-05986-2

Plot

While he searches for his friend named Art, a boy learns the secret code word "MOMA." The boy encounters a lady on the street, a museum security guard, a lady in the museum lobby, a little man, a girl, a painter, and many other people eager to share their enthusiasm for art. The boy does not find his friend named Art, but as he searches he is treated to a tour of great works from New York's Museum of Modern Art. After contemplating Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans, the boy enjoys tomato soup in the museum café. He continues his search for Art and eventually finds himself back in the museum lobby. The lady in the museum lobby asks him, "Did you find art?" The boy smiles then emphatically replies, "YES." He walks out of the museum and meets his friend, Art. The boy's eyes have been opened to a new vision of art. A passing stranger asks, "MOMA?" The boy confidently directs him to the museum.

Critical Evaluation

As they so often do, Scieszka and Smith have crafted a simple yet playfully-worded story and delightful illustrations. The result is a remarkable tour of modern art. The secret password, "MOMA," and the play on words (Art vs. art) invite the reader to join the adventure and follow along while the boy searches for his friend. As the boy moves from room to room in the museum, the story progresses from page to page. The story truly feels like a walk through the lobby, galleries, and 64 of the major works housed in the Museum of Modern Art. Works that are included range from Monet's oil painting Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond (1920) to Dorothea Lange's photograph Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936) and the Arthur Young Bell Helicopter, Inc.'s Bell-47D1 Helicopter, designed by a man who was a painter and a poet. Furniture, sculpture, household objects, and objects which defy categorization challenge the boy to see that art is everywhere and everything is art.

Annotations

A boy has an eye-opening walk through the galleries of New York's Museum of Modern Art. Along the way he meets people and encounters works of art which challenge him to open his mind to a new vision and understanding of art.

Author and Illustrator

Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith have collaborated on a number of books. Their work has a humorous sensibility and unique visual appeal. Favorite titles of children and adults include The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Science Verse, and Math Curse.

Genre

Fiction – Art appreciation

Curriculum Ties

English Language Arts - expressive character dialog and use of puns.

Visual arts – valuing and interpreting art.

Booktalk Ideas

Let's take a walk down Fifty-third street in Manhattan, New York. What might we see?

Who is Art? What is art? What do you think?

Reading Level/Interest Age

Grade 3 (age 8) and up.

Challenge Issues and Defense

The only thing that might put off some readers is the style of the book which is pure Scieszka and Smith. Some people don't like modern art either.

Why is it here?

I have yet to find a child who did not enjoy a book by this author and illustrator. This was to me an unfamiliar title I wanted to get to know.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Selznik, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Scholastic Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-439-81378-5

Plot

The story opens with A Brief Introduction from Professor H. Alcofrisbas. He sets the time, 1931, and the place, Paris. He introduces the protagonist, twelve-year-old Hugo Cabret. Then he asks the reader to imagine that they are watching the opening of a movie as they page through the book's opening series of illustrations. The first 45 pages of the book are beautiful black and white illustrations of the moon, Paris, a train station, and finally Hugo and the old man in the toy booth. Hugo is an orphaned boy. He lives with his uncle who maintains the clocks in the train station. His uncle disappears, so Hugo continues to care for the clocks, secretly lives in his uncle's apartment in the train station, and survives by stealing food. He also steals mechanical toys from the toy booth at the train station. He needs the toys' parts to repair an automaton, a mechanical man. His father tried to repair it before he died. The mechanical man sits at a desk and holds a pen. Hugo hopes that if he can repair it, the automaton will write a message from his father. But soon he is caught stealing. The old man in the toy booth takes the notebook Hugo uses in his attempts to repair the automaton. He tells Hugo that he will burn it and that Hugo must now work for him to pay for the things he stole. The man's granddaughter, Isabelle, eventually befriends Hugo and tells him that her Pap Georges has the notebook at home. Hugo and Isabelle sneak into a movie theater together and enjoy an afternoon of escape. When they return to the train station, Hugo sees the station inspector making notes on a clip board as he looks up at the main clock. Hugo panics, thinking that he has been found out. He tells Isabelle he must go, and she demands to know where he lives. Then she panics and runs away. Hugo chases her, and in the chase he realizes that she wears the key to the automaton on a string around her neck. He steals it from her so that he can use it to wind up the automaton and receive its message. Isabelle follows him to his apartment. He winds up the automaton, and they watch as the automaton dips a pen into an inkwell. Hugo is disappointed that there is no written message from his father. Instead, the automaton draws a picture from his father's favorite movie. The picture shows the face of the moon with a rocket lodged in one eye. Hugo and Isabelle go on to find the connection between Hugo's father, the automaton, and Isabelle's key.

Critical Evaluation

Brian Selznick's detailed drawings are wondrous. They show action and develop characters at the same time. The story is told through these pictures as much as through the author's spare writing. He combines the stories of the fictional Hugo and Isabelle with the work of the real-life French film maker Georges Melies. The book is over five hundred pages long, but there are so many illustrations that it is not hard to read the entire book. This can be particularly encouraging for reluctant readers who may be amazed that they can read such a big, thick novel. An interview with Selznick in which he describes this book can be found at http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/selznick.

Annotations

Hugo lives alone in a Paris train station, caring for the clocks, and stealing to survive. When he is caught, he makes a new friend and solves the mystery held within the automaton his father tried to repair before he died.

Author

Brian Selznick's work as an illustrator has won several awards. The Invention of Hugo Cabret won the Caldecott Medal in 2008. Other work includes illustrations for The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins and Walt Whitman: Words for America both by Barbara Kerley.

Genre

Fiction – historical fiction, mystery

Curriculum Ties

Language arts

Visual arts – drawing and film

Booktalk Ideas

If presenting the book to a small group, read the introduction and then slowly page through the opening series of illustrations so that the group can see them. It would be fun to dim the lights like in a movie theater.

Reading Level/Interest Age

Grade 4 (age 9) and up.

Challenge Issues and Defense

None.

Why is it here?

This book has an attention-getting illustration on its spine. It shows half of Hugo's face and just one of his eyes. It almost jumped out at me as I walked by the shelf of Caldecott Medal winners at my city library.

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

Van Allsburg, Chris. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984. ISBN 0-395-35393-9

Plot

This book begins with an Introduction from Van Allsburg. He tells the story of a man named Peter Wenders. Mr. Wenders worked for a children's book publisher. One day Harris Burdick came to his office and told him that he had written fourteen stories and had drawn illustrations for each tale. He gave Mr. Wenders one illustration for each story so he could review them. Mr. Wenders was amazed by the drawings and asked Mr. Burdick to let him read the stories. He agreed to bring the stories to Mr. Wenders the next day, but he never returned. Mr. Wenders never found Mr. Burdick, but he kept the illustrations. The pictures were so captivating that they inspired Mr. Wenders' children and friends to write stories about them. The illustrations were published in book form with "the hope that other children will be inspired by them."

Critical Evaluation

The illustrations in this book definitely do suggest stories. Each illustration has a title and a short caption. For example, an illustration of a boy and a girl standing on the shore of a lake bears the title "A Strange Day in July" and this caption: He threw with all his might, but the third stone came skipping back. The author Stephen King was so impressed by an illustration titled "The House on Maple Street" that he wrote and published a short story based on it.

Annotations

Harris Burdick leaves his mysterious illustrations with a publisher and never returns. The pictures captivate those who see them with the stories they suggest.

Author

Chris Van Allsburg is the Caldecott Medal winning author of Jumanji and The Polar Express. His picture books are favorites of children and lovers of children's literature.

Genre

Fiction - mystery

Curriculum Ties

Language arts

Booktalk Ideas

Read the entire introduction. It is just one page. Then show as many of the illustrations as time allows, reading each title and caption.

Reading Level/Interest Age

Grade 4 and up (age 9 and up).

Challenge Issues and Defense

None.

Why is it here?

The book presents an intriguing mystery story and intriguing illustrations which can be used as springboards for young readers to write their own stories.