I raised my proverbial glass and gave three cheers this past weekend for Mr. Barry Ronge's tribute to the irreplaceable joys of a "real book" in his Sunday Times Magazine column, "Book me in, I'm staying." While Ronge confesses to having turned into a "techno-junkie," the recent hype of the Kindle has evaded the man. And I have to fundamentally agree with him on this point. I, too, am afflicted by the wobbly-knees and light-headedness that accompanies entering those enchanted stores, with book-brimming shelves that reveal Ronge's treasured pages of "exquisite layouts on thick, silky paper." Indeed, Mr. Ronge, it is not unlike entering a "a sultan's harem" (if such things still existed, as you so rightly pondered).
It is in the spirit of his homage to the visceral pleasures of the world of beautiful books that I would like to 'pay it forward', by reiterating these sentiments in this personal homage to the makers of beautiful children's books.
A much-adored member of the Fogarty's Bookshop clan recently bestowed one of the greatest honours upon me: entrusting me with her much-adored copy of The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. (And what is not to adore about a story that contains - amongst many other marvellous things - a toymaker magician, a precocious and bookish young girl, and last, but not least, Hugo himself as orphan, clock-keeper and thief-by-trade-but-not-by-nature...?)
While the skillfully woven tale had me gripped from the words, "Chapter 1," (and left with sun-scorched, pink skin afterwards!), there was more to it than that. The book was, quite simply, Beautiful.
A friend of a friend's mother once won hundreds of thousands at a casino, which then entered her into the lucky draw to win a brand new car, which she then went on to win, too. I think know how she must have felt. It's what I felt when I held Selznick's book in my hands.
Hundreds of thousands and a brand-spanking new car. All mine.
In a special blend that draws on cinematography, the graphic novel, the classic book (from when the realm of bookmaking belonged to the craftsman), the author nobly achieves his dream. Having "long wanted to write a story about George Mielies," the surrealist French filmmaker, Brian Selznick's palpable love of art, beauty, and magic is soaked into every single page of this treasured work of children's fiction. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is nothing shy of alchemy.
I reluctantly returned the much-adored book to the much-adored friend of Fogarty's. And were it not for the latest offering by the team that brought us The Spiderwick Chronicles, handing back Selznick's masterpiece may have been harder on me.
In The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Completely Fantastical Edition, Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black have frankly outdone themselves.
Some books do in fact have you by the cover, and this one had me with its cover of the young Grace trio, silhouetted against a midnight forest landscape alit by 'fireflies' (well, let's be honest, we all know that they're really faeries!). The spindly title decadently inviting in embossed gold - the kind that you just know you have to run your fingers over before holding the book close to your heart.
And as if having all five stories in one complete package weren't enough, the creators of the Spiderwick tales have been so generous as to add to this, shared moments from Tony DiTerlizzi's own sketchbook (with commentary from both co-authors). Here, readers are welcomed into DiTerlizzi and Black's imaginative worlds, into those special moments where their characters were first born, and inspiration first found.
But wait... You've got it, there is More... (What? You want More?!)
Ever wondered where lost chapters go? To the island of Lost Socks, perhaps?
Spiderwick's lost chapters have not been altogether lost... In "Lost Chapter: Goblins Attack," a riddle is solved and Thimbletack becomes a Boggart, while in "Lost Chapter: The Great Escape," "Hogsqueal Finds Himself in a Cage." This way, readers and fans can make up for formerly missed opportunities.
Have you had your fill quite yet? Once again, DiTerlizzi and Black are yet to be convinced... And in the final pages of this Completely Fantastical Edition, the two implore similarly Faerie-minded colleagues/illustrators to try their hand at Spiderwick-dom, reinventing characters with the curious and curiouser results.
Employing such dazzling, diverse talents as those of Gris Grimly, James Gurney, Scott Gustafon, and my new favourites, Peter Brown and Tim Basil Ering, it is this last installment of the collector's edition that really resounds with the book-lover in me.
Something of an artist's gallery, it serves, too, as a balm for the childish soul, celebrating the men and women who have the courage to be shamelessly imaginative and, most importantly, to believe in Faeries.
It is in the spirit of his homage to the visceral pleasures of the world of beautiful books that I would like to 'pay it forward', by reiterating these sentiments in this personal homage to the makers of beautiful children's books.
A much-adored member of the Fogarty's Bookshop clan recently bestowed one of the greatest honours upon me: entrusting me with her much-adored copy of The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. (And what is not to adore about a story that contains - amongst many other marvellous things - a toymaker magician, a precocious and bookish young girl, and last, but not least, Hugo himself as orphan, clock-keeper and thief-by-trade-but-not-by-nature...?)
While the skillfully woven tale had me gripped from the words, "Chapter 1," (and left with sun-scorched, pink skin afterwards!), there was more to it than that. The book was, quite simply, Beautiful.
A friend of a friend's mother once won hundreds of thousands at a casino, which then entered her into the lucky draw to win a brand new car, which she then went on to win, too. I think know how she must have felt. It's what I felt when I held Selznick's book in my hands.
Hundreds of thousands and a brand-spanking new car. All mine.
In a special blend that draws on cinematography, the graphic novel, the classic book (from when the realm of bookmaking belonged to the craftsman), the author nobly achieves his dream. Having "long wanted to write a story about George Mielies," the surrealist French filmmaker, Brian Selznick's palpable love of art, beauty, and magic is soaked into every single page of this treasured work of children's fiction. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is nothing shy of alchemy.
I reluctantly returned the much-adored book to the much-adored friend of Fogarty's. And were it not for the latest offering by the team that brought us The Spiderwick Chronicles, handing back Selznick's masterpiece may have been harder on me.
In The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Completely Fantastical Edition, Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black have frankly outdone themselves.
Some books do in fact have you by the cover, and this one had me with its cover of the young Grace trio, silhouetted against a midnight forest landscape alit by 'fireflies' (well, let's be honest, we all know that they're really faeries!). The spindly title decadently inviting in embossed gold - the kind that you just know you have to run your fingers over before holding the book close to your heart.
And as if having all five stories in one complete package weren't enough, the creators of the Spiderwick tales have been so generous as to add to this, shared moments from Tony DiTerlizzi's own sketchbook (with commentary from both co-authors). Here, readers are welcomed into DiTerlizzi and Black's imaginative worlds, into those special moments where their characters were first born, and inspiration first found.
But wait... You've got it, there is More... (What? You want More?!)
Ever wondered where lost chapters go? To the island of Lost Socks, perhaps?
Spiderwick's lost chapters have not been altogether lost... In "Lost Chapter: Goblins Attack," a riddle is solved and Thimbletack becomes a Boggart, while in "Lost Chapter: The Great Escape," "Hogsqueal Finds Himself in a Cage." This way, readers and fans can make up for formerly missed opportunities.
Have you had your fill quite yet? Once again, DiTerlizzi and Black are yet to be convinced... And in the final pages of this Completely Fantastical Edition, the two implore similarly Faerie-minded colleagues/illustrators to try their hand at Spiderwick-dom, reinventing characters with the curious and curiouser results.
Employing such dazzling, diverse talents as those of Gris Grimly, James Gurney, Scott Gustafon, and my new favourites, Peter Brown and Tim Basil Ering, it is this last installment of the collector's edition that really resounds with the book-lover in me.
Something of an artist's gallery, it serves, too, as a balm for the childish soul, celebrating the men and women who have the courage to be shamelessly imaginative and, most importantly, to believe in Faeries.
