This year, thanks to a generous gift from Waterstones, this past December the Letterbox Club was able to give a special festive gift book to over 9,000 children in care. Children aged 11-13 were given The Marvels by Brian Selznick.
In The Marvels, Selznick creates a remarkable artistic and bookmaking achievement that weaves together two seemingly unrelated stories-one in words, the other in pictures. The illustrated story, which takes place over the first 400 pages, begins in 1766 with Billy Marvel, the lone survivor of a shipwreck, and charts the adventures of his family of actors over five generations. The prose story opens in 1990 and follows Joseph, who has run away from school to an estranged uncle's puzzling house in London, where he, along with the reader, must piece together many mysteries. Filled with mystery, vibrant characters, surprise twists, and heart-rending beauty, and featuring Selznick's most arresting art to date, The Marvels is a moving tribute to the power of story.
The Marvels is loosely based on a real house in London, the Dennis Severs' House on Folgate Street, and Dennis Severs himself, the man who bought the house and turned it into the magical place it is today.
The Letterbox Club Team met with the current curator and caretaker of the house, David Milne, who was the real life inspiration behind the character Joseph, to find out about what makes the house, and The Marvels, so special.
From David Milne:
Brian took a lot of the inspiration from the idea of 'you either see it or you don't' when you visit the house. We create the story, but you as visitors are left to interpret it yourself.
When Brian first came to the house, all those years ago, and I could tell that he was really special, he just got it, they weren't in a museum, they were immersed in the story of the house…it was a real living space.
And everything that Brian has done has helped secure the house for the future, and the wonderful thing about this house is it constantly evolves, and the fact that we constantly get a new audience takes the house further into the future. I believe in 100 years time the house will be here, and everything I do is for its future success, and The Marvels and Brian have become a huge part of that.
Now all the rooms have a new association, because they are wrapped up with The Marvels. It is a real place which makes it even more magical, that is the lovely and magical thing about it is because the house is real.
Brian made a piece of exquisite animation to go along with The Marvels: HERE
See the BookTrust interview with Brian Selznick here
Add a comment