The Marvels

The Marvels by Brian Selznick (Scholastic Inc)

HB RRP $34.99

ISBN 978-0-545-44868-0

Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

The Marvels is one of the most beautiful, satisfying and absorbing book I have had the pleasure reading in a long time. The unusual format - the first half is told entirely in pictures, the second in prose - was the first surprise and had me instantly hooked.

Exquisite black and white illustrations fill the pages with such detail and life that I forgot I was not reading words. The occasional newspaper headlines or theatre bill helps keep this illusion while providing any additional detail such as dates and names.

This illustrated first half tells the tale of Billy Marvel, the only survivor of a shipwreck in 1733, whose stories inspire the painting of the ceiling in a new theatre being built in London. Billy makes the theatre his life, and so too do the generations after him, until one year disaster strikes the lives of all.

The second, seemingly unconnected, story is entirely told in prose.

This tale takes place in 1990 when Joseph runs away from boarding school to take refuge in the home of his mysterious Uncle Albert. This house is the most astonishingly unconventional home Joseph has ever been inside and he is determined to get to the bottom of his Uncle’s strange behaviour.

The shift from illustration to text is not as unsettling as I expected it to be. The prose is just as beautiful as the illustrations, providing imagery as effortlessly as the illustrations prove ‘words’. Also, by the time I had reached this midpoint, I was so involved as a reader that the change in form seemed a natural expression of the shift in the story’s focus.

Reading The Marvels is a rich experience. Even holding the heavy hardback volume with its gold edged pages seems like the beginning of a journey. Go with it!

Shipwrecks, high theatrical drama, family tradition and conflicts, this is a book to be savoured. Don’t let the size put you off. Once the pages are opened any reader will be enchanted, drawn into the story, and not want it to ever end.

This is a marvellous read for those as young as nine or as old as ninety.

Brian Selznick is the bestselling author of The Invention of Hugo Caberet and Wonderstruck.

Midnight colouring – Anti-stress Art Therapy For Sleepless Nights

Midnight Colouring – Anti-stress Art Therapy For Sleepless Nights illustrated by Kate Larsen (Pan Macmillan)

RRP $19.99

ISBN 9780752265926

Reviewed by Ramona Davey

The moment I saw this book available for review I jumped at the chance. My insomnia comes and goes with no rhyme or reason. There is no knowing how long each new bout will last -- one bad night or a couple of sleeplessness nights or four nights with as little as three consecutive hours of sleep. I have tried getting up, walking around the house, herbal teas, meditation but I had not tried a colouring book before.

Anyone who has walked into a book shop or even a newsagency recently will see how popular this kind of book is at the moment. And it is no wonder why: they are therapeutic.

One night when it was getting late and the family had all fallen asleep, I was still wide awake. I could feel the familiar sensation of anxiety rising in my chest at the possibility of another night with no sleep. So I got out the family box of textas and began to colour in. I chose a page with a row of cute little houses, bushes and trees. I stopped thinking about the outside world and began to concentrate on the colour scheme I wanted to use for the buildings. Yawn.  Then I wondered, did I want the trees to be autumn colours or summer? Yawn.  And were they brown dirt tracks or grey roads curving across the page? Yawn. My mind had relaxed. My eyelids were getting heavy. It had worked!

The second time I coloured in a wonderful under-the-water scene while I listened to a writers’ podcast. Then one night I caught my 10 year old daughter colouring in a page. So it suits all ages. The biggest surprise of all was its size. It fits perfectly into a handbag.

This great little book is filled with hand-drawn illustrations that long to be coloured in. Some are single page and others are double page spreads.

I had as much fun colouring them in as illustrator Kate Larson must have had designing and drawing each page.

I look forward to colouring in the whale page next. J

Book

Book by John Agard, illustrated by Neil Packer (Walker Books)

HC RRP $16.95

ISBN 9780744544787

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Every now and then I come across a book that electrifies me because of its uniqueness. This extraordinary book created by John Agard presents the origin and evolution of the book through a light-hearted point of view of Book.

Within its twenty small chapters, we learn about the incredible history of writing and the before and after of Book’s inception. This brilliant feast of words is a treasure trove of facts and thought provoking quotes. It journeys from oral storytelling to markings on clay tablets, hieroglyphics, and onwards. It informs and entertains as it reveals all the types of materials used for writing, and the surrounding history that accompanies each era’s progress.

So much information in such a compact book! This is an extremely well-researched compilation that is historical, informative and highly entertaining all at once. Suitable for 8 to 108 year olds, it is a delight to read, a rich resource, and a valuable addition to any book lover’s shelf.