Did you have the same thought I had after seeing Moonrise Kingdom?

What was Suzy Bishop reading!

She’s lugging that suitcase full of YA books all over New Penzance. We see their titles, and we hear a bit of the text when Suzy reads them aloud. But for the most part they’re a mystery—another bespoke item created for Wes Anderon’s bespoke universe, hinting at some deep meaning but confined to a few brief moments on screen.

Well, here they are.

According to the producer of Moonrise Kingdom, these animated shorts were originally planned for the movie itself, but Wes Anderson decided to shoot the characters’ faces as they read the books instead.

“I think it’s kind of nice that rather than just doing one whole story, [we’re] doing these little snippets,” says Dawson. “They’re about imagination — it’s just more like a spark of this story.”

Personally I’m fascinated when books are invented, but never actually written. There’s a history of artists making fake books to serve as a source of wisdom or inspiration within an invented world. For Suzy Bishop’s books, this is a double-edged sword: the books are totally secondary to the film, but the film treats them with reverence.

What do you think of Suzy Bishop’s fake books?

– Brian Hurley