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    The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
    The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
    The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
    Audiobook15 hours

    The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

    Written by Reif Larsen

    Narrated by Christopher Gebauer

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A boundary-leaping debut tracing a gifted young map maker's attempt to understand the ways of the world When twelve-year-old genius cartographer T. S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian announcing he has won the prestigious Baird Award, life as normal-if you consider mapping dinner table conversations normal-is interrupted and a wild cross-country adventure begins, taking T. S. from his family home just north of Divide, Montana, to the museum's hallowed halls. There are some answers here on the road from Divide and some new questions, too. How does one map the delicate lessons learned about family or communicate the ebbs and flows of heartbreak, loneliness, and love?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 14, 2014
    ISBN9781490645414
    The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

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    Reviews for The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      A boy travels across the country in order to find out that his parents really do love him, after all...and a bunch of really interesting stuff that might have happened had he not found this out, doesn't. Extra star for the pretty pictures.
    • 3/5
      What an odd book. I started loving it, but quickly tapered to an eagerness for it to end. It became very contrived and tedious for me. I see that so many have rated it very highly, and I think I must have missed something.At the beginning, I loved the clever illustrations and side bars... It is a very beautifully crafted book. The story then took an odd segue into his great grandmother's life. Interesting, but it didn't go anywhere meaninful. Then, he arrived in Washington to run into a series of cardboard, comicbook quality characters - very shallow and unidimentional. what kind of ending was that??? sigh
    • 5/5
      I really liked this book. It has a plot that kept me interested right until the end, and still some questions weren't answered. (I really wanted to find out what happened when T S got back to the farm.)What I like best about the book are the tone/voice and the physical layout of the novel. TS's voice is authentic. I like the excerpts from the other diary/book too. I love, love all the drawings and asides.I would recommend this book to people who like a good yarn, a bit of a Huck Finn feel, people who like stories set in American, people who like child narrators.
    • 5/5
      Charming, poignant, and utterly original, I cannot think of another novel that's quite like The Collected Works of T.S. Spivet by the multi-talented Reif Larsen. It was given to me as a gift and I knew very little about it before I started reading, aside from the fact that my flipping through its pages revealed a somewhat "illustrated" story. Perhaps "illustrated" is too specific, for The Collected Works of T.S. Spivet is more like a novel with doodles in the margins and some interesting tangents (Reif Larsen evidently calls this "exploded hyper-text), done by a truly exceptional artist that has an eye for scientific observation and precision. T.S. Spivet lives in Montana and his full name is Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet, the fifth in a line of Tecumseh Spivets, all manly men who work with their hands yet all seem to have attracted accomplished and educated wives. Even at twelve, it's clear that T.S. will never be a manly man -- he wants to be a cartographer, drawing maps and scientific illustrations as a way of mapping the world around him. (Side note here: it's to the author's credit that while reading the novel, I thought of these pieces as belonging to T.S., but clearly Larsen has incredible talent... and quite likely was a similar child to T.S. in terms of devotion to his craft.) The Spivet family originally consisted of three children; the youngest brother, Layton, was a true ranch boy and the apple of his father's eye before an accident (almost a year before the opening of the book) killed Layton and left the family silently reeling in the aftermath. So now it's just T.S. and his older sister, Gracie, left to deal with their parents: a rancher/cowboy father and a reclusive scientist mother. When not out working the land, their father seals himself in his "setting room" that features shrines to various historical figures of the West and the television constantly plays westerns. Their mother, meanwhile, has spent twenty years looking for a particular beetle, losing any chance she might have had to make her mark on the scientific community by moving on to other research. For some time now, T.S. has had a mentor named Dr. Terry Yorn who works at the University and it appears that Dr. Yorn's opinion of T.S.'s work is even beyond what T.S. could have hoped. For over a year at Dr. Yorn's encouragement, T.S. has been submitting his illustrations to various publications and a particularly detailed piece was used in an exhibit at the Smithsonian. The event that truly sets things in motion for the book is a a call that T.S. receives from a representative at the Smithsonian, informing him that Dr. Yorn nominated T.S. for the the prestigious Baird Award and he has won. The museum would like to see T.S. in Washington, D.C., in a week to accept the award and give a speech at a benefit that will feature his work. After an initial period of panic, focused mostly on the fact that the museum is unaware of his age and lack of qualifications, T.S. decides to go... and for transportation, he will "ride the rails" like hobos of old.The book encompasses the journey T.S. takes across the country and his interior monologue that reflects upon a wide variety of items as he travels, yet constantly returns to his family and life in Montana. Whenever a book comes out with a young narrator (and the book qualifies as actual fiction/literature as opposed to being a children's or YA novel), there tends to be a good amount of fuss about the originality of the precocious young person. They all seem to have eccentric families, somewhat distant parents, and strong abilities in a scientific field. I'd argue that while T.S. and those other precocious narrators can often come out sounding the same in simple prose, T.S. really shines when speaking about his need to map the world, from sewer systems to shucking corn. The illustrations are wonderful and really serve to make T.S. a unique figure. His family is lightly sketched, but detailed enough and believable when it concerns a twelve year old boy who cannot quite grasp the complexities of his parents. Gracie is nice foil to her brother, a very "normal" teenage girl with a sharp sense of humor and a touching depth to her emotions. As for Layton, it wasn't long before I suspected his story was, clearly a bit more tragic as far as T.S. was concerned; the devotion to a younger brother can be explained by their closeness (despite their different interests) and yet one can easily tell that T.S. feels like he's doing penance or feels responsible for the loss of his brother in the way that children do when, clearly, something is not actually their fault. (Perhaps one of my favorite details from the story is the idea that T.S. has taken to inserting Layton's name into every illustration that he has done since his brother's death and sure enough, if you look closely you can see this small tribute.) Dr. Yorn hovers in the background and while it would have been nice to know more about the man so committed to T.S.'s talents, I'm glad that we were not given insight into his character at the expense of T.S.'s family. Ultimately, this is not just a story of a brilliant young boy's journey to D.C., it's the story of a grieving family that needs to re-knit itself if it is to recover. On the whole, the book is a delight. The story is charming though T.S. can sometimes be a bit too earnest and enthusiastic. It's very easy to picture a very intelligent and loquacious child who has no problem discussing a favorite topic at great length. Of course, his prolix writing makes it easy for the reader reader to set the book down from time to time to breathe and absorb the copy and fantastic drawings. (It's actually a challenge to not think of this book after setting it down. It's been days since I've finished and I find myself thinking of it quite frequently, even in the context of "I wonder how T.S./Larsen would map this location/event/historical trajectory?") The text itself is, indeed, dense. Don't let the double-spacing and wide margins fool you into thinking that this will be a really fast read. The margin illustrations and tangential stories require the reader to shift gears a bit and spend time giving them a lengthy study. Thankfully, dotted lines indicate to the reader the appropriate time to examine those stories and drawings, but it does tack on some time to then re-enter the story once pausing for the marginalia. All this means is that you should be sure to take your time with this book -- it deserves it.Indeed, for the illustrations alone, I suggest you should pick up this quirky and touching coming-of-age novel. Even prodigies need to still be children sometimes, aware that their parents can handle things and, more importantly, that they love their children and want what's best for them. As for children themselves, well, when adventure comes knocking it's hard to turn it down and it's amazing the things one can accomplish with dedication to one's craft and talents. The same is certainly true for the author, Reif Larsen, who is only 29 and has produced quite an impressive work. The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is lovely volume with great depth and spirit, a welcome read for anyone who enjoys an original story with a charming hero.
    • 5/5
      Wow. This book is highly imaginative, with a main character whose voice is unlike any others yet immensely likable. T.S. Spivet is a 12-year-old child prodigy who lives with a quirky family on a ranch in Montana. He is awarded a presitigous prize from the Smithsonian for his maps and illustrations, although they are unaware of his young age. He decides to hop and train to D.C. to receive the prize. While the ending and even some of the middle is not as strong as the beginning, this is a must-read. T.S. is quite a character, but perhaps his most endearing quality is his innocent and straightforward way of describing his feelings.
    • 4/5
      Well, it was a little implausible, and a little bit precious. But it kept my attention, and it made interesting use of the theme of finding one's way in the world. I could have dealt with a little less Pynchonesque fantasy. But the unfolding of TS Spivet's world was fascinating.
    • 5/5
      This book is a thing of beauty. It stands out being an oversized hardback and invites you to pick it up and look inside ... whereupon you'll see all the intricate illustrations, sidebars and marginalia. Then reading the blurb, you'll find out that it is the story of a 12 year old genius, Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet, how he gets to be invited to go to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC and his journey to get there. Totally captivating already without reading a word.TS, as he likes to be known, lives on a remote ranch in Montana. His father is a taciturn cowboy, his mother is a talented scientist totally obsessed with studying rare beetles, his sister is a typical teenage girl. His brother, Layton we soon find out died a few months previously. His is not a typical household, and TS is not a typical boy. He loves nothing more than to understand the world by mapping it - drawing illustrations, diagrams, and making lists. His mentor Dr Yorn submitted some of his work to the Smithsonian, not telling them he was only 12. So when they call inviting him to come and accept a prestigious award, TS sees his chance to escape Montana and make a pilgrimage to the home of learning, so he runs away and jumps a train hobo-style. Having grabbed one of his mother's notebooks, he starts to read it on the train, and is surprised to discover it's not one of her beetle books, but the draft of a biography of one of his ancestors on his father's side, who went on to become the first woman professor of geology. Eventually after many adventures, he arrives in DC. To his surprise, (but not ours), the museum sees that it can capitalise on their prize-winner only being 12, and the media circus starts leaving TS homesick and missing his family.I really took to TS. He's a loveable geek and an independent spirit. He struggles to understand his parents, especially since the death of his brother though. Throughout his journey, we share his confusion, his grief and need for space. In the boredom of the long train ride, through reading his mother's manuscript, he begins to understand his heritage and to find his place in the scheme of things. Arriving in the big city, his skills don't help him and he's a fish out of water - it's here for the first time that we really feel he's just a boy. This is a totally charming book. I loved everything about it - especially all the diagrams and footnotes. The middle section on the train did slightly drag (intentionally I would wager), but the imagery (and TS's maps) of the train gradually wending its way through the American mid-west is fantastic. Also wonderful is the masterful way the author has teased out the story of the Spivet family - by the end of the novel we care about them all deeply. TS's realisation, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, that there's 'No place like home' and his subsquent rescue has the merest hint of schmaltz but is a truly satisfying ending to an amazing tale.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book, especially all the side notes and illustrations. It's one of the more unique books I've read and I really appreciated the layout from a design point of view. T.S. is a very intrepid 12-year-old cartographer and I enjoyed following his journey and thought process as he made his way across the country to Washington D.C. to accept an award from the Smithsonian. There were parts of the book that were a little bogged down, but I didn't find myself getting bored, just sidetracked a little. But given that this book is about a 12-year-old boy, and one who tries to map almost everything he sees and experiences, I thought that fit well in the overall theme. If you're looking for something different, I'd recommend this book and I will definitely read more by Larsen.
    • 3/5
      What an amazing book! Hard to define, but some of the most beautiful writing I have ever read. Larsen has a way of using words that is magical....he moves around ordinary words to create images, feelings, thoughts in a new and totally brilliant way. The layout of the book at first put me off, but I quickly came to appreciate the style and recognize the importance of the side bars. An unexpected masterpiece!
    • 5/5
      Told through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet By Reif Larson is a wonderful example of imaginative writing combined with an innovative presentation style. While not designed specifically for young people, the book would be of interest to high ability middle school and high school readers.What makes the novel unique is the author's use of illustrations and side notes in the margins to extend the reading experience.The story follows a gifted boy who has been invited to receive an award and speak at the Smithsonian. T.S. thinks that once the officials learn that he's a boy and not an adult scientist, they will be withdraw the award. He decided to venture across country from a ranch in Montana to city of Washington D.C. on his own. Many aspects of the book feel set in another time and place, but that contributes to surreal feeling.I enjoyed both the book's format as well as the quirky characters. I could empathize with the boy's eccentricities and loves of visuals. I recommend this novel.
    • 5/5
      T. S. Spivet is a twelve year-old genius cartographer who lives on the Coppertop Ranch near Divide, Montana. His mother, Dr. Clair, is a distracted scientist chasing a moth that may not exist. His father runs the ranch and doesn’t know what to make of T.S. His sister is a typical teenager with little time for T.S. His brother, Layton, was killed in an accident when he and T.S. were measuring the sounds of gunshots. When T.S.’s friend, Dr. Yorn, submits his work for a prestigious Smithsonian award without T.S.’s knowledge and he wins it starts T.S. on a journey across the country to Washington, D.C. The story of a somewhat sheltered but highly observant and gifted child navigating the adult world and dealing with problems and emotions normally reserved for adults is a journey in itself. The book is filled with T.S.’s asides, observations, notes, drawings and maps, and rather than distract from the story they add texture and richness. An enchanting book that should make for a great film.
    • 4/5
      Interesting story of Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet, a twelve year-old genius cartographer from Montana who wins a prestigious fellowship from the Smithsonian. Of course, they have no idea he is twelve. T.S. decides to run off to DC to accept the award, and hops a train heading east. Lots of weird adventures and some pretty dark moments, as well as a book within a book feature that is at times tedious. The adventure climaxes in DC in an odd but gratifying way and if you are looking for something very different to read, then this is a good choice. Packed with interesting illustrations and notes as well, almost a graphic novel but not quite.
    • 4/5
      This is the kind of book where I am going to need to come back to this review in a few weeks and see if my opinion has stuck.T.S. Spivet learns he is to receive an award from the Smithsonian, only they don't know he's 12 years old. His prodigious talent is making maps and scientific charts drawings (the book is illustrated with his artwork in the margins) that record a range of experiences, from the process of shucking corn to parkland in the Washington DC area. T.S. sets off from his home on a ranch in Montana, without telling his family, and hops a freight train.The biggest problem with this book is that it's extremely clever, and sometimes it's too clever. You're going along reading it, and the story and characters are so compelling -- they're not terribly realistic, but at the onset they charm you right into buying into the concept, and then the book just twists your arm a little too much and snaps you out of it. The plot feels almost out of control by the end, but I'm mostly okay with it because it seems like a flaw of sincere ambition. Structure-wise, I would have preferred to get the family story of Emma more evenly inserted into the narrative instead of in a few big doses that broke up the atmosphere too much.Grade: A-Recommended: Especially to people who enjoy books with good physical book feel and unusual presentation - the hardcover is slightly oversized to accommodate the margin illustrations (which did make this a little difficult to tote around while reading).
    • 4/5
      "I had trouble listening to adults who didn't really mean anything that they said; it was as if their language poured into my ears only to drain right out a little spigot in the back of my head."This is an adventure tale, about a 12 year old boy who is a master cartographer. He is invited to the Smithsonian to receive the prestigious Baird Fellowship--they have no idea he is only a child. He embarks on a crosscountry trip, without his parents' knowledge. I felt the story started to drag in the middle and I had to sort of force myself to keep reading. Over all, it was a very memorable book and one that I do recommend. There are illustrations (maps) on almost every page. My favorite has to be the map of Moby Dick (although I'm also very impressed with the map of all the moves in a game of cat's cradle.) A commentary on the scholarship of science in the US, as well as a coming of age story, makes this an endearing classic tale of adventure.
    • 1/5
      What started out as an interesting, enchanting story completely fizzled out by the end. Character development is completely absent in the second half of the book (the first half of the book being before the train ride).The second half of the book reads like a children's story, with way too many sentences containing the word "I". There are lots of good nuggets of information in this book and some great witty moments, but there is really no story here. I finished the book to respect the author, but it was painful getting to the non-end of the non-story. The first half of the book held such promise. Very disappointing. I give one star for the first half. This could have been crafted into 3 or 4 books with proper guidance for a gifted beginning writer. Terrible rushed waste of talent.
    • 3/5
      Stephen King described this as a mixture of Twain, Pynchon and Little Miss Sunshine. There is little doubt that's what the author was shooting for, but ultimately the story falls apart. Still worth it for the interesting narrative and illustrative form.
    • 4/5
      So the ending was a bit anticlimactic - I turned the last page fully expecting another chapter, something to tie up the loose ends, & didn't really get it. Still, I liked the rest of it well enough to want to give it 4-and-a-half stars.
    • 3/5
      With each page I grew more tired of this book. I didn't believe that the narrator was a 12-year old, no matter how precocious. The novel had a dated feel. For example, the director of the Smithsonian awards him a prize without thinking to Google Spivet's name to find he wasn't associated with any university. I didn't understand the relationship between the scientist mother and rancher father. The middle section which centered on the life of a distant relative distracted from the story of the boy's journey. Without the interesting illustrations and the amusing ideas about what can be mapped, the novel would be mediocre.
    • 4/5
      Reif Larsen’s Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is all at once a bildungsroman, an adventure tale, and a poignant look at history and loss. The Spivets are a quiet family. Each character almost becomes a caricature, but he toes the line rather well. The Spivets’ third child, Layton, died in a gun accident on the ranch and all the members feel his loss in their own way. One day, while mapping his sister de-husking corn on the ranch, T.S. gets a call from the Smithsonian notifying him that he has won the Baird Fellowship. Expecting very little help from his family, he runs away, hops a train, and begins a trek of both inward and outward exploration. On the way, he learns more about both his living and deceased ancestors, encounters real danger, and comes to terms with his brother’s death. Perhaps my favorite part was how young T.S. spoke. You can tell he’s precocious but not obnoxious. His language can only represent what he has experienced, and the author is careful not to put too lofty a phrase in his speeches. All in all, a pleasant and unexpected read.
    • 5/5
      Nearly five stars, but it got too weird at the end. Fantastic, beautifully written story with LOTS of side notes about a 12-year-old boy who travels from his home in Montana by the Continental Divide to Washington, D.C. A journal about an his great, great grandmother, a female geologist, is intersperesed.
    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed the uniqueness and cleverness of Larson's tale of a 12 year-old cartography prodigy , T. S. Spivet. The beginning got me interested as the characters and their background unfolded. The middle of the book dragged a bit for me, as yet another author (see Wally Lamb's I know This Much Is True) felt compelled to insert a lengthy and only somewhat related story within the story we're reading. If it was necessary at all, it didn't need to be so long, unless it was a tool to make the journey across the country seem long and monotonous - it did achieve that goal!T.S.'s experiences mirror what we all experience in relation to tragic events in our lives (at an adolescent level in this story). We sometimes have to deal with guilt and remorse and then try to overcome bad feelings by blocking them out. It never seems to quite work out until we deal with it head on, admit it to ourselves and then realize that we may have done the best we could and shouldn't feel so bad about ourselves.The ending left me wondering a bit - wasn't quite up to my anticipation or the buildup in the story, although the feelings of redemption and reunion definitely fit the bill. All in all, this was fun to read, all the more so due to the creative graphics accompanying the text, and the story development kept my interest. I hope Larson is writing another one!
    • 4/5
      beautiful book, great format and witty illustrations. starts out loaded with ideas and enchanting characters but suffers from a children-book plot development and a blunt ending. overall a fast and uplifting read
    • 2/5
      This was an unexpectedly great book! The ending was a bit abrupt for me, with several loose ends, but I would definitely recommend it.
    • 3/5
      The story is about a 12 year old child prodigy cartographer whose younger brother has recently died in a shooting accident on the family's Montana farm. The format of the book is unusual in it's format and design with drawings and notes peppered through the margins. These do add something to the book as well as provide some marketing hype for an otherwise mediocre story.The beginning and end of the story move along quickly. There's a part in the middle where it drags while T.S. is alone with his thoughts in an RV being transported by a train.There is a parallel story in the book which is not clear whether it's a family ancestral story or a piece of historical fiction by T.S.'s mother. Through the book, T.S. has an unnatural concern for his mother's scientific career and his belief that she is wasting her scientific ability. How many 12 year old's truly have much of a concept about their parent's career. The end of the book resolves T.S.'s relationship with is father, but leaves his relationship with his mother hanging.
    • 5/5
      Did you ever enjoy reading a book, and, at the end, could not for the life of you decide if you liked it or not? I gave it five stars, because I really did enjoy reading it, but I don't think I could recommend it to anyone. How odd.
    • 5/5
      If you are tired of fiction that follows a predictable pattern, this book is for you. It is so unique that I kept shaking my head throughout. A book about a 12 year old boy who goes on the adventure of a lifetime, you will be interested in this book from beginning to end. There is also a book inside this book, which could stand on its own. TS Spivet is one of those kids we don't fully understand, but who makes us smile nonetheless. He has a genius scientific mind, yet doesn't realize the consequences of lying about the fact that his parents are dead. But, that's when you realize that he is, after all, only twelve.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book about a boy who wins a prestigious award and positon --but he's only 12. Wonderful memoir of this unique kid who records everything, breaking it all into distinct processes, and has amazing cataloging and drawing abilities. His writing style of observation, trying to be separate from the emotions of the situations, is so interesting paired with the how he observes and processes what's happening because he's still so young.
    • 3/5
      There has been recent discussion about what the media calls "The Great American Novel." A book that somehow defines the American experience, that pulls everything together and demonstrates what it means to be alive in this particular country at this time in history. My answer to those debaters would be To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee, or Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men. The book that I am reviewing is definitely not one of these, but bears a remarkable resemblance to Warren's brilliant novel about Louisiana politics. I say this not in respects to the plot line, which is basically a boy going from Montana to Washington DC to accept an award from the Smithsonian. An award, they suspect, which is being given to a college professor, not a 12 year old. T.S. Spivet tells of his cross country journey in his notebook and illustrates it throughout, drawing out every detail of his travels. This includes the aspects for which is it like Warren's book. In AtKM the main character sees the cows chewing grass by the side of the road, or sees the lighted windows from the car he is driving, and wonders about the lives of those people. He details the omniscience of the cow, the all knowing cow, as it watches the world go by, uncaring, just as the cow does not care. T.S. notices the pedestrians walking the streets of Chicago and tabulates who is walking with whom, and of those walking alone, how many have earphones listening to music. He makes decisions about life as skillfully as any sociologist would. That is the meat of the book, the treasures which should be gathered from its pages. A highlighter or pencil is highly recommended. The margin notations are golden observations about life. I did find the ending to be a little slow, as the book, as in life, is more interesting during the journey than in the end destination. But the reaction he has to Washington DC is appropriate, as it ties everything together. I do wonder though, about his core principle, that everyone has a map of the universe in their minds, and the journey of life is trying to map it all into understanding. Do we know as much as the Cow standing beside the road? And is the cow more fortunate for, knowing everything, not caring anything about it? Or is the struggle what our journey is all about. If you read the reviews from the online bookstores, they basically echo my feelings, a great book with a few flaws
    • 5/5
      This is a beautifully produced book, set out as if it is one of the sketch books of T.S. Spivet - 12 years old, scientific genius, skilled illustrator and map maker and average, everyday boy. It follows the story of T.S. who, feeling like he doesn't belong in his somewhat dysfunctional family in Montana, accepts a prestigious award from the Smithsonian. Unfortunately, they don't know he is only 12, and he doesn't really know how to get to Washinton D.C. But using his abilities, he gives it a try - and discovers a world which is both confusing and fascinating to his scientific mind.If you suspend your disbelief and remember that this is the world of a 12 year old, you will come to enjoy the inanimate objects which talk, and the strange coincidences of this novel. But you can't fail to be delighted by the illustrations which litter the pages and help you to see the world in the same way that T.S. sees it. The novel touches on love, acceptance, science, belief, loss and learning and is the kind of book you will go back to again and again. As a first novel, it is fantastically conceived and beautifully presented.
    • 4/5
      It was with great anticipation that I picked up The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet from the library. The synopsis of a 12-year-old science prodigy hopping a train “hobo style” to accept an award from the Smithsonian sounded like the coming of tale that I would adore. Once I had the book, the illustrations and marginalia that graced each page pleasantly surprised me. For certain, this was one of the most aesthetically pleasing books I’ve seen in a while.Unfortunately, the plot couldn’t keep up with the visual interest of the book. The beginning and middle of the book were fantastic, learning about T.S. and his overanalysis of the world around him. His depictions of his scientist mother, rugged father, sarcastic sister and the innocence of his deceased brother all emanated from the pages. T.S.’s narrative made me smile and laugh in some parts, sigh and reflect in others. He was a little boy with a big brain and heart.As I reached the last 75 pages, the story became muddied with displaced characters, secret societies and a sense of detachment from the first two-thirds of the book. The daVinvi Code-meets-Alvin and the Chipmunks ending was lost to me – as was T.S.’s humor, wit and childish innocence. I missed my old T.S.Despite the lackluster ending, I would encourage any visual person to check out this book – if for nothing else but to look at the illustrations and sidebars. They did not detract from the story (in fact, T.S. drew arrows to his sidebars so you knew when to veer off). Like T.S., they were wonderful in every way.All in all, I am glad I read The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. This was the debut novel by Reif Larsen, and I hope he continues to mature as a writer. His writing style and characterization are spot-on. Perhaps a T.S. sequel is in order?