The Mind of Brian Selznick: A Cognitive Reading — 00
00. Prologue

This series of essays aims to have a close look at Brian Selznick’s innovative cinematic books through the lens of cognitive reading. Brian Selznick coins a term ‘A Novel in Words and Pictures’ and develops a unique approach to story-making and storytelling. The most outstanding characteristic of his work is the way how the verbal interweaves with the visual throughout the narration. From the perspective of the reception, in order to understand the story, a reader, correspondingly, has to make sense of the ‘meaningful’ connections between the verbal and the visual. In other words, the pictures in the ‘Novel of Words and Pictures’ cannot be simply assumed to illustrate the words, and vice versa. An interesting question then arises is that what might happen in the mind while reading the blended text?
In the light of meaning-text theory, one may consider how the different forms of the heterogeneous contents inform the process of meaning-making. Similarly, in my previous study, I proposed what I called ‘cognitive surface reading’ to address the correspondence between the form of pencil sketch drawings and the function of the graphic metafiction in The Marvels (2015) based on Vygotskian discourse. As a tentative exploration, I have generated discussion on the formation and internalisation of the fictive memory system constructed by the narrative. I am still aware of and concern the further steps to take to continue my investigation.
The proposed enquiries presented here is intended to explore the authorial mind in the first place more or less in reference to my previous research on the readerly mind. The readerly mind — or the fictive memory system in particular — is assumed to be constructed through the medium of the blended narrative, which in this case, the reader may be able to internalise a character’s feelings and thinking. However, why this kind of narrative can function as a mind-modelling tool, or how the author creates this kind of tool, is still under research. Furthermore, when David Fickling crafted her book Thornhill (2017) shadowing the similar approaches employed in Wonderstruck (2011), it is fascinating to have a look at how this kind of tool can be transmitted and adapted for diverse story-making and storytelling practices. It also sparks discussion bringing embodied and situated cognition into literary studies.
Rather than writing them for an ‘academic purpose’, I would prefer to view the essays as a reflective account of my thinking undergoing the ‘pre-doctoral’ period. As a STEAM curriculum developer and designer, I am also considering how the innovative children’s books can offer some insights into the STEAM learning as well as Maker Education. There definitely exist possible connections between the reading of cinematic texts and what Seymour Papert advocated ‘constructionist learning’ (which is considered to differ from constructivism), between the situated characters and artefacts across the time and space and the situated learners entangled in a possible network of technical stuff and interactive application, and so forth. I have to point out that, most of the characters created by Brian Selznick can be viewed as the ‘Makers of Things’ or else someone with maker spirit (see, for example, The Robot King and The Invention of Hugo Cabret). From my point of view, Brian Selznick’s books can be considered as a pioneering practice to bridge the gap between STEAM Education (or Maker Education) and children’s literature. This inspires my thinking and future exploration as an education researcher working in the field of children’s literature.
Inspired by Rosalind Ridley’s insightful book, Peter Pan and the Mind of J. M. Barrie: An Exploration of Cognition and Consciousness (2016), this series of essays is originally conceived during my postgraduate studies, but yet, this plan was suspended partly because of procrastination. After a recent group communication with my former classmates via email, I decide to handle this pending project while reframing and refining my studies for a future career plan. I notice some interesting questions between the ideation of Seymour Papert’s ‘constructionism’ and Brian Selznick’s storytelling, which also motivates my action of writing and continuing my previous research. In this sense, it is also a personal ambition to contribute to the exploitation of children’s literature as virgin resources in STEAM Education by exploring an integrating approach.
