Hugo and Wonder Struck - Good Summer Reads

Two interesting books a reader and an artist should consider for this summer reading.  Both are by Brian Selznick who is a professional graphic and visual artist.

The first book - Hugo - is now made into a movie.  In general the movie follows the book well.  But the real magic of the book is the dual stories - one is words and one in pictures.  The movie does not capture that concept at all.

Selznick tells the story in the conventional book form with words and then shifts to pencil drawings to continue the story.  Several pages of drawings advance the story and then he shifts to words.

In Wonder Struck - the story in words is that of a boy living in the Iron Range with his mother.  The author spent some time on the Gun Flint Trail and northern Minnesota to write this sections.

The picture story is of a young girl living in New York.  As the independent stories of these two young people continue we learn that they both run away.  The story nicely blend together and become one about 2/3's of the way through. 

A very interesting combination of delightful drawings and both are good stories.