The Boy of a Thousand Faces

Read with my granddaughter Aniyah. We will read The Houdini Box next in preparation for the journey into The Invention of Hugo Cabret. This was a great story. Beautiful illustrations and a fine tale to go with them. Aniyah loved it.

Fun and Fantastic. You can see the genius of Brian Selznick. A great little mystery with some creepy. A fun little story and again, like Hugo Cabret, he is going into the movie history of the great horror movies of Old Hollywood. Lon Chaney and Wolfman are in the book. It makes me wish he had made this a much longer, involved book. it was a lot of fun set around Halloween. It was also a lovely twist at the end I didn't see coming which is a feat for a children's book. A must read for any Brian S [...]

I found this rather lame and it didn't have a very good plot.The illustrations are wonderful, but creepy. Not the monster illustrations, but the illustrations of humans - specifically the face of Mr. Blake. It gives me the heebie-jeebies. It's just the smiling face of an older man, but for some reason I shiver every time I see it. Not pleasant.And the story doesn't make any sense. Nor is it particularly compelling.Alonzo is a boy who loves monster movies. He was born on Halloween. He wants to be [...]

At only 48 pages, this is a very fast read, even more so since a good half the book is just drawings. However, it's sweet, cute, heartwarming, and perfect for Halloween. Definitely something that a kid would enjoy reading because it has a bit of mystery and, more importantly, monsters.

A delightful, heartwarming and nostalgic little story, with beautiful illustrations and words. A short but rich book that made me remember the wonders of childhood and the magic and love I once had for horror cinema. Made me weep like hell.

And to think I never knew Brian Selznick wrote a book about me. If only it were longer!

My son and I just got finished reading this. He's in kindergarten and is thrilled to be reading "chapter books".

Author / Illustrator: Brian SelznickFirst published: 2000I was wary that this would be a scary book, but it is typical of Selznick's other works - taking real world people and events and twisting them into a fantasy from a child protagonist's pov. In this case, Selznick takes horror movies and actors and allows 10yo Alfonso to embrace them. The joys and fears of believing in the unknown is beautifully expressed through Selznick's wonderful pencil drawings and engaging narrative. The illustration [...]

Alonzo King loves monsters, horror films, and disguises. It could be because Alonzo was born on Halloween or it could simply be that he likes spooky things. He avidly watches Monsters at Midnight on channel 37- a T. V. show hosted by Mr. Shadows and featuring all of the best old-time horror movies. Alonzo’s favorite is Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney- “The Man with a Thousand Faces.” Inspired by Chaney’s career, Alonzo hopes to be called “The Boy with a Thousand Faces” one day. [...]

SUCH a cool book. It's a little book, one to read at bedtime. Just the right amount of mystery and monsters to make it intriguing, but not nightmare inducing for the 4 year old.Alonzo King loves old monster movies. He wants to be like Lon Cheney and have a thousand disguises. He writes a letter to Mr. Shadows, the host of his favorite monster movie program. Then a Beast comes to town and everyone is talking about it. Alonzo and his neighbor and friend solve the mystery of the Beast and the ident [...]

Author/illustrator Brian Selznick can do no wrong. I'll keep this title in mind as a library recommendation for reluctant readers; especially young boys with active imaginations and a healthy interest in monsters, both real and imagined. What other children's book has a full-page photo of Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera and the most famous (if questionable) Bigfoot and Loch Ness Monster photos? Unlike a lot of children's book makers, Selznick believes in the intelligence of his audience.

This book is about a boy who doesn't have a lot of friends.One day he takes a picture of himself in a costume and sends it to a tv show.Then everyone would talk about this scary picture of a beast.The boy wonders what the picture shows.When he saw the picture it surprised him.This book can be for people who never realy was popular but one day was.

This was the first book by Selznick I found and could not recommend it highly enough, or often enough, to kids at my library! It was loved to death quite frequently! Story and illustrations were fabulous!

I love how brilliantly creative Brian Selznick is. The Boy of a Thousand Faces is an early reader "Horror" or "Thriller" story. I personally don't read a lot of horror, so I don't have much to compare it to. But, I did think it was brilliant. Alonzo King was born on Halloween and LOVES monsters. He reads books, watches movies, and listens to radio dramas. He even takes photos of himself dressed in horror makeup. Alonzo wants to have 1,000 photos of himself in this makeup, just like Lon Chaney (t [...]

My daughter introduced me to Selznick’s work and I hope it never goes out of print! His illustrations and story line are fantastic. Evaluating it against character education guidelines was simple litland/reviews_9-12/b This title should sound familiar to parents belonging to the Baby Boomer and Generation X eras. Younger parents may recognize it as well, particularly anyone with a love of classic film. It is a take-off of the name given to the famous actor, Lon Chaney, who was known as The Man [...]

We bought this book in 2003, when Brian Selznik came to the Reading Reptile bookstore to give a talk. The owners of the store, as is usual with their high quality business, put on a little play beforehand that had to do with monsters. So, we got, not only the opportunity to meet such a wonderful writer and illustrator, but also to see an original and scary play.After the play, Mr. Selznick talked about how he come to be a writer and how he took his time doing the illustrations on his books. Not [...]

Alonzo King wants nothing more than to be the Boy of a Thousand Faces. He loves to watch old black-and-white horror movies featuring Lon Chaney, an actor who was called the Man of a Thousand Faces because in every movie he was dressed up to look scary in a completely different way. Alonzo tries to create his own one thousand scary looks with props and makeup, but he's only come up with 23 so far. Meanwhile, a rumor has spread that there's a Beast terrorizing the town, and Alonzo finds himself th [...]

Like his other books, The Boy of a Thousand Faces is about a boy who is obsessed with the supernatural. This boy in particular wants to be a young Lon Chaney, The Man of a Thousand Faces. Charming as this story is, I did wish for a little bit more substance to the story. But alas, it is a kid's book, and it was actually fun to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the ride. As with any of Selznick's books, the real joy is in experiencing his awesome illustrations that tell the story that the words leav [...]

Quirky story about a boy who loves monster movies and has a goal to create a thousand different monster faces. Each time he finished transforming himself with paint, makeup and tape; he takes a picture of himself and puts it in a special notebook.Will he be able to reach his goal? What secrets are Mr. Blake the local postman hiding? What happens when one of his monsters, The Beast, starts appearing for real?Find the answers to these and more in the last book written and illustrated by Brian Selz [...]

A wonderful exploration of monsters and monster lovers. I love how Selznick gives us a since of a heritage of monster loving by telling us of the original Lon Chaney. And gives us a great dash of fantasy with Alonzo and his many photos of his own monster make up. It gives us a good taste of monster love without being at all scarey. I also like how Alonzo has a friendship with his grown up neighbor, while it's obviously very important to teach kids to be on gaurd for unsafe grown ups, I think it' [...]

Selznick's illustrations are delightful in this short chapter book about a young boy with a love of classic movie monsters. I was hoping for a little more substance--perhaps something scary, a bigger reveal with his neighbor, or more of a coming-of-age for the young boy--so the book fell short for me. However, it is a nice, gentle tale that could be read in one sitting, and a child might appreciate it more than I did.

A short story about a 10-year old boy preoccupied with B&W horror films. The Phantom of the Opera is his favorite film, Lon Chaney favorite actor, and Mr. Shadow of a late night horror movie tv show his hero. Wanting to be like Lon Chaney, the boy's goal is to create 1000 faces. This story is about hidden identities that help him reach his goal. The book is so-so. But this isn't my genre. Give it to a student who likes things a little creepy.

This book is a short story about a boy, Alonzo, who loves monster movies. His dream is to be the Boy of a Thousand Faces. He writes a letter to his hero, a latenight horror movie host, and hopes for a response. In the meantime, there seems to be a beast on the loose in town and Alonzo wants to track him down.A pre-Hugo Cabret effort by Brian Selznick, this book is a fun, brief book. It would be good for 3rd grade and up. Nothing amazing, but okay.

Little Tom’s favorite TV show is Monsters at Midnight. So he makes a mask of 18 of his favorite monsters and sends it out to the host of the show. The monster of the town comes then he finds out he is the monster. Then he finds out his neighbor is the old host of the TV show. So they play his favorite move the Phantom of the Opera and all the kids are driest like the monster of the town. So he has the boy of a thousand faces.

I love the idea of kids being into old silent horror movies. I think this might be a good choice for someone looking for a book for a younger reader that spooks easily. It's moody and kind of spooky without being actually scary. It would make a good lap read-aloud, and I think there are a lot of cool extension activities you could do (watching silent movies, monster dress up, letter writing to a local celebrity, stamp designing, etc.).

I didn't realize it was only 40 pages.

The art work is amazing. A very short, nice and easy read (5mins approx).

My students love this.

Another good book by Brian Selznick with yet other reference to other famous books such as Dracula and Frankenstein good for general knowledge. Few words again which makes it more accessible to struggling readers, fantastic images and very appealing for boys

Not my favourite Selznick but still true to form an imaginative tale!