The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Brian Selznick
Scholastic, 2007
$24.99, Hardcover
978-0439813785
April 14th, 2012
Caldecott Medal
Genre:
Historical
Age: 9+
Description:
Hugo Cabret is an orphan and a thief. His uncle disappeared a while ago so Hugo
has been taking care of the clocks in his busy Paris train station ever since.
When he gets caught stealing toys from a toy maker his prized
notebook—featuring pictures of an automaton his father was trying to fix before
he died—gets snatched and Hugo has to work to get it back. When he and
Isabelle, the goddaughter of the toy maker, try to figure out the odd
connection between him and the automaton they discover hidden secrets that
point to the toy maker being George Melies—a famous filmmaker presumed to be
dead and all his films lost. They confront her godparents about it and when
Hugo goes to retrieve the automaton he gets caught by the station master who
doesn’t believe he is who he says he is. Luckily, everything is sorted out and
Hugo goes to live with the Melies. A year later, Georges films are being shown
and Hugo is now a magician ready to make his big debut with his own magical
automatons.
Opinion: A
mix of novel, graphic novel, picture book, and film (it uses real film still
images), Hugo is a multi-medium format. While its size is daunting (520 pages)
it only took me an hour to read it. I really though it was kind of bland—what
is the big deal that everyone says about it? I can see why the movie technically
bombed—it would make for a very boring movie. It has a very Dickensian feel to
it—a poor street urchin gets taken in by the rich man in the end. The picture
element of the book could appeal to reluctant readers or turn them away.
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