Award-winning author and illustrator William Joyce and co-director Brandon Oldenburg’s “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” insists the adoration of its viewers everywhere.

This 15-minute film shows Mr. Lessmore’s life being rudely interrupted when a tornado tears apart his town and lands him in a world akin to Oz with its winding path and strange magical happenings. Surrounding him are the ravaged remains of his town, so he picks up his hat, his cane and the empty book that he hopes to fill and starts down a path made by book pages.

Mr. Lessmore stumbles upon a library filled with mysterious flying books with minds of their own. A Humpty Dumpty storybook soon becomes his mentor, using various pictures show Morris what needs to happen. Mr. Lessmore becomes the caretaker for these books. He feeds them their alphabet cereal, makes sure they wear their book jackets and repairs the aging books.

The film contains no dialogue. Instrumental variations of the classic children’s song, “Pop Goes the Weasel,” provide the mood for the story. Along with music, color plays an important role in setting the feel for the film. Although his world was originally filled with color, Mr. Lessmore lands in a town of bland black and white. It’s only when he sees the flying books that he finds color in this strange new world. Through his life with the books, viewers will see how books can bring color to their lives, and they can bring life to their books, just by reading.

Before leaving the library for good, Mr. Lessmore leaves his own contribution to the collection; a book that he had authored while living in the library. Morris writes the final words of the story, then watches the book gain it’s life and fly for the first time. It flies right to a young girl, destined to be the next caretaker of the books–and so the knowledge of Mr. Lessmore is passed on to a new generation.

On the surface, a short film like “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” may seem childish, but this short film has enough layers to be thought provoking for even the most critical adult viewer as well.