David*Macinnis*Gill.com

The news out of Hol­ly­wood yes­ter­day was that HUGO pulled in 11 Oscar nom­i­na­tions, includ­ing best direc­tor, art direc­tion, cin­e­matog­ra­phy, cos­tume design, film edit­ing, orig­i­nal music score, sound edit­ing, sound mix­ing, visual effects and adapted screen­play. Beyond that fact that I’m delighted that HUGO turned out so well, that Hol­ly­wood rec­og­nized a children’s book, and that Brian Selznick is a great per­son and artist who deserves the good for­tune, I’m delighted that it reminds that we all start some­where. many years ago when Eeyore’s book­store was open and delight­ing the chil­dren of NYC, a young man named Brain asked the then man­ager, Steve Geck (of BN, Green­wil­low, and now Source­books) for a job. Steve, though, didn’t think Brian knew enough about children’s books and sent him off to read. Brian returned, Steve gave him a job, and a star was born. Later, Brian turned his knowl­edge, expe­ri­ence, and artis­tic abil­ity into cre­at­ing the books he once sold, and I can hon­estly say, the world is a bet­ter place for it.