You know Brian Selznick as the person who wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret, but this is his less famous book. It’s the same basic idea as The Invention of Hugo Cabret, except it’s a brother and a sister who are orphans, and instead a train station, they are living in their parents’ old house. They make a machine which can pull part of itself off to make an object float in the air. Pretty great idea, right?, but poor execution. When I read the book blurb, they made a big mistake. They described the robot’s abilities are pyrokinetic, but that isn’t true.
The main characters are a boy and girl who collect scraps and then the sister makes small contraptions. They make a new one, the robot king, and this one has a mind of its own. The book was okay for most of the story, but Selznick blew it on the ending. I found the artwork amazing, but eerie, as it was meant to be. Brian Selznick is usually a great writer and you always learn from mistakes. Maybe that is how he came up with The Invention of Hugo Cabret because it is a great book, but The Robot King is bad.
Ewandini is a Junior Cannonballer.
This makes me sad. I *loved* Hugo Cabret and Thunderstruck, so I’m a big Selznick fan. I will not be reading this, though. Great review!
Well done Ewandini! I always love your reviews. I think this book must have been a practice book for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which came out twelve years later. That book is sheer perfection!
Another book that you might like is Flotsam by David Wiesner. While it is a picture book listed on amazon for preschool to third grade, it reminds me of Selznick’s books in that it tells a wondrous story that draws you in to a magical land only through the illustrations. You might think that you’re too old for that one, so maybe your mom can check it out from the library for you so you can take a peek.