2015 One Book For Kids Section: "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" by William Joyce
The book that inspired the Academy Award-winning animated short film, from New York Times bestselling author and beloved visionary, William Joyce, is also a picture book! It is an allegory about the curative power of stories and how books return the favor to those who care for them.
"Joyce’s magnificently illustrated book-about-books inspired—yet arrives after—his 2011 animated short film of the same name, which won an Oscar. The unusual sequence of film-to-book (there’s an app, too) suggests that while books are indeed glorious things, what really matters is the story. This one follows a dreamy bibliophile named Morris Lessmore, who loses his cherished book collection to a cataclysmic storm that’s half Katrina (Joyce is from Louisiana) and half Wizard of Oz. Underneath this book-about-books, there’s a deeper story of love, loss, and healing, one that will be appreciated as much (if not more) by adults as by children." -Publishers Weekly
