Though it is technically classified a “children’s book”, it is also majestic enough warrant happiness at finishing a book for the first time in far too long. This book was recommended to me by a friend of mine who is a children’s librarian, remembering it because it recently won some notable prizes and nominations.
The book is set up with words interspersed with several pages of illustration, perhaps so far as being more picture than phrase. The images are used to show things that words are not necessarily needed for: traveling through a tunnel, dissecting clockwork, stumbling through streets, and such. Thus, the writing comes to be like title cards from old silent movies, though a tad longer and more engrossing. This is a highly fitting style for a book about the rediscovery of cinema’s great forefather, Georges Melies.
I was slightly wary at the idea of a book about a little boy who, in effect, resurrects the legend, but by the end I was greatly heartened. The process was done with tribute, but absent of sap, ending with a beautiful sentiment for classic cinema and a nod to the hope of possibility for the future. It took about a day to read, interspersed between the masses of work I was supposed to be engaged in, and was a charm at every turn. By the end I was not only sad it was over, but suddenly wrapped in a longing to feel the same way I felt as the story unfolded. I can only imagine what this book must be like for a young child, one not at all familiar with the work of Melies or the way he impacted the world. It’s a story that does not require previous knowledge of the man, unless you want to learn the “secret” before the characters do. If you don’t know about him, it serves to create an interest and a desire to seek him out afterward. And if you have crossed eyes with him before, this is a lovely way to reconnect, to remember the wonder of his films, and, as with the newcomers, seek out his work for renewal.
A beautiful work by a man I want to know more about. Well shaped characters, moving action, and a passionate affection for a great figure in our human history.
