The Boy of a Thousand Faces

Title: The Boy of a Thousand Faces

Author and Illustrator: Brian Selznick

Type: Picture Book

Grade Level: 2-5

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Boy of a Thousand Faces is about 10 year old Alonzo King who was born on Halloween and loves monsters of all types.  Nobody else in the town believes in monsters until one day The Beast arrives and sends the town into a frenzy and seeking Alonzo's expertise.

I really enjoyed this book.  Even though it was a book about monsters I found it very cute and the characters endearing.  The plot was unique and fun and the drawings doubled the fun and uniqueness of the book.  Alonzo is a passionate character and his emotions carry over to the reader and they feel his boredom, curiosity and excitement.  He is a likable character that readers (especially children who are as equally obsessed with monsters) can relate to.

It is Selznick's ability to grab the reader's attention with his drawings that especially makes his book great for reading aloud in the classroom.  The Boy of a Thousand Faces would be a great read aloud around Halloween time.  The pictures are sensational and add to the fun plot that will have the students not only enthralled but they get to act as detectives and try to guess what is going to happen next.  Additionally we could do an art project where the students get to create Halloween masks and become one of Alonzo's 1,000 faces.