Selznick cites Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, and Remy Charlip, author of Fortunately, as strong influences on his books The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck. The Invention of Hugo Cabret was adapted as a film, Hugo, by director Martin Scorsese and released in November 2011. Selznick, a fan of Méliès and automata, envisioned a young boy stealing an automaton from the garbage. After his death they were thrown away by the museum that he donated them to.

The book was inspired by a passage in the book Edison’s Eve by Gaby Wood recounting the collection of automata that belonged to Georges Méliès. The Invention of Hugo Cabret follows a young orphan in Paris in the 1930s as he tries to piece together a broken automaton. Selznick calls it 'not exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things.' At the time it was 'by far the longest and most involved book I’ve ever worked on.' It has inspired students to action, including a fourth-grade class that staged a silent film festival and a group of fifth graders who turned the book into a 30-minute modern dance. Its Caldecott Medal was the first for a long book, 533 pages with 284 pictures. Selznick won the 2008 Caldecott Medal from the American Library Association for the year's best-illustrated picture book, recognizing The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It became his debut work, a 56-page picture book published by Alfred A. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and then worked for three years at Eeyore's Books for Children in Manhattan while working on The Houdini Box, about a boy's chance encounter with Harry Houdini and its aftermath. His grandfather was a cousin of Hollywood producer David O. He is the son of Lynn (Samson) and Roger E. Selznick, the oldest of three children of a Jewish family, was born and grew up in East Brunswick, New Jersey, where he graduated in 1984 from East Brunswick High School.

He is also known for illustrating children's books such as the covers of Scholastic's 20th-anniversary editions of the Harry Potter series. picture book illustration recognizing The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Brian Selznick (born July 14, 1966) is an American illustrator and author best known as the writer of The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007), Wonderstruck (2011), The Marvels (2015) and Kaleidoscope (2021).

Lunch Money by Brian Selznick