Mentor Sentence Monday: More Brian Selznick

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Another one of my favorite books by Brian Selznick is The Boy of a Thousand Faces. His sentences are fun to imitate and give young writers great models for creating more complex sentences of their own. The opening line from The Boy of a Thousand Faces is a wonderful hook to mimic.

Selznick’s words:

After the crowd lit their torches and chased the phantom into the river, after the hunchback met his death in the darkness of the tower, and after the creature disappeared back into its black lagoon, Alonzo King went to bed.

 Sentences I generated using Selznick’s words as inspiration:

After the grandparents finished their cheesecake and coffee, after the cousins played unruly games of Scrabble, euchre, and spoons, and after the aunts and daughters washed up most of the dishes, everyone left and house went quiet.

After her hair was washed and conditioned, after it was dried and straightened, and after the blond strands were sprayed in place, Samantha sat in the red chair in the living room and waited for the doorbell.

Mentor Sentence Monday: More Hugo Cabret

Text for word cloud came from page 165 of
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian
Selznick

I've always loved the look and feel of Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It is one of those books that rests beautifully in your lap and the black and white pages are delicious to turn. Sorry, but there is no way I would want to read Hugo as an ebook. The structure of Selznick’s sentences and paragraphs are also perfect for imitating.

The following sentences are from the opening paragraph to the eighth chapter on page 165.

After making his morning rounds with the clocks, Hugo showed up at the toy booth the next day prepared to work. He could feel the cogs and wheels in his head spinning in different directions. On moment he felt hopeful that he'd get his notebook back, the next he felt angry and resentful.

The following are sentences I generated using Selznick’s patterns:

After collecting the empty cups, dessert plates, and pop cans downstairs, Mary headed to the basement prepared to face an even bigger mess.

After making the rounds at the usual bars, Ray showed up at the Someday Saloon prepared to deepen his level of inebriation. He could feel the boozy blanket begin to warm and calm his brain.

After making their morning rounds with the litter boxes, Roxy, Fred, and Tiger showed up in the kitchen prepared to eat breakfast. 

Mentor Sentence Monday: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

This week I’ve chosen to use The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick as the mentor text for generating my practice sentences. The following sentences can be found on page 50.

Hugo crept through the walls, came out through an air vent, and hurried down the hall until he reached the toy booth. Nervously, he rubbed the notebook one last time, then cautiously lowered his hand around the windup toy he wanted.   

  

Using Brian Selznick’s sentence patterns, I generated the following sentences:

Sebastian padded down the stairs, stood in the foyer, and looked out the sidelight of the front door. Nervously, he flipped the deadbolt one last time, then cautiously stepped out to the front porch and scanned the front yard.

Sylvia pulled up to the condo, turned off her headlights, and hunched down in her seat. Nervously, she steadied the zoom lens of her camera one last time, then snapped the picture of her husband and the woman.