Noted Author/Ilustrator to Appear at Mercer Museum Fundraiser

Doylestown children's bookshop Booktenders’ Secret Garden is helping to bring a noted children's author/illustration to town this week.

Booktenders’ is sponsoring “An Evening With Brian Selznick” at Mercer Museum’s new Grand Hall Friday night. It’s a fundraiser, as a portion of the ticket price will help support future children’s events, according to Ellen Mager, owner of Booktenders'

Mager gives Selznik's work rave reviews, and says Wonderstruck is wonderful.

“He’s phenomenal and the book is amazing,” Mager said. “He’s brilliant. He just looks at things differently than anybody else. He’s very detail-oriented and it just pops off the page.”

Selznick, a New Jersey native and graduate of Rhode Island School of Art and Design, is perhaps best known for writing The Invention of Hugo Cabret. That book earned the Caldecott Medal, one of the highest accolades awarded in children’s literature, and was adapted to screen and is scheduled for release by Paramount Pictures in November. Martin Scorsese directed it.

Wonderstruck (Scholastic Press) takes its cues from how Hugo was told.

Part written word, part picture book, Wonderstruck “was a joy, a challenge, and a puzzle to put together,” Selznick admitted in his description of the historical fiction written for ages 9 and older.

The plot: A boy named Ben longs for the father he has never known. A girl named Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room, and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.

Ben's story, set in 1977, is told entirely with words, while Rose's story, set 50 years earlier, is told entirely with pictures. Both characters are deaf, which adds another dimension to the book. The two stories weave back and forth before ultimately coming together.

Publisher’s Weekly said this of his new work: “Selznick follows his Caldecott-winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret with another illustrated novel that should cement his reputation as one of the most innovative storytellers at work today. … Selznick's story has the makings of a kid-pleasing classic.”

Tickets are still available and can be purchased at through Thursday night, or at the event Friday.

Doors open at the at 6:30 p.m.; the presentation begins at 7. An American Sign Language interpreter will appear with Selznick.

Tickets for adults, which will include a copy of Wonderstruck to be signed by the author that evening, are $30. Tickets for children, ages 6 to 14, are $8. The event isn’t open to children under 6.

Information: Booktenders’ at (215) 348-7160.