Books in Flight

An animated film recently posted to Vimeo (and nominated for an Academy Award) fits well with the main theme of this blog: ‘The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore’. This is from Moonbot, the studio of William Joyce, a brilliant author-illustrator well represented on our children’s book shelves (George Shrinks, A Day with Wilbur Robinson, Dinosaur Bob and his Adventures with the Family Lazardo, etc.). According to the Vimeo post, the film was ‘inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books’. Watch for the grand piano built out of books, its lid propped open by a giant pen. The animation is first-rate, the story bittersweet. And you will have ‘Pop! Goes the Weasel’ in your head for some time afterward. [Update on 28 February: It won the Oscar! The authorized video from Moonbot has been removed from Vimeo, in favor of iTunes.]

Another video we saw recently is on YouTube. Titled ‘The Joy of Books’, it plays with the idea that books come alive when the shop is closed for the day. The filmmakers and their volunteer helpers spent ‘many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating [with stop motion] books at Type bookstore in Toronto’.