Brian Selznick
The book created a realistic world in the streets of Paris where dreams are still alive and real, and by the way, happen. Hugo Cabret amazingly keeps the cogs and wheels of a Paris train station’s clocks running as his Uncle has previously abandoned him. Hugo’s beloved and deceased father has left him with the knowledge of the inner-workings of machinery and the desire to fix an automata, a wind-up mechanical figure, that the father discovered in the attic of a museum. Hugo embarks on his destiny the day he is caught stealing a wind-up mouse from an old man who runs a toy boy by the train station. Hugo and the old man’s goddaughter, Isabelle, are thrown into the twist of fate as they encounter many discoveries that lead to the ultimate secret at the end of the tunnel. The old man turns out to be the actual film-maker, magician and ultimate dreamer, Georges Méliès. His work is unearthed and celebrated thanks to Hugo and Isabelle who later all live together with Georges Méliès and his wife in what seems like a magical fairy tale.
Impact on me:
This book was truly a spectacular surprise. I found this book to follow a totally unpredictable medium of a story that I had not seen before. I have read my fair share of graphic novels and picture books, but Selznick certainly took a chance by including both of these aspects separately from the black and white text. I enjoyed how the pictures in the story always took up two pages and was never accompanied by any text (aside from signs, etc. in the pictures). The pages where I kept flipping to view the progress of the scene were particularly exciting and I found myself a little sad when the actual text came back into the novel. That sadness ended the moment I read three or four words and I was back into the progression of the story. What a precious gem this was! I have not seen the award-winning movie yet and cannot wait to see how the movie fairs to this incredible Caldecott medaled book.
Reviews
While the bookmaking is spectacular, and the binding secure but generous enough to allow the pictures to flow easily across the gutter, The Invention of Hugo Cabret is foremost good storytelling, with a sincerity and verbal ease reminiscent of Andrew Clements (a frequent Selznick collaborator) and themes of secrets, dreams, and
invention that play lightly but resonantly throughout. At one point, Hugo watches in awe as Isabelle blithely picks the lock on a door. “How did you learn to do that?” he asks. “Books,” she answers.
R., S. S. (2007). The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Horn Book Magazine, 83(2), 173.
With deft foreshadowing, sensitively wrought characters, and heart-pounding suspense, tbe author engineers the elements of his eomplex plot: speeding trains, clocks, footsteps, dreams, and movies-especially those by Georges Melies, the French pioneer of science-fiction cinema.Movie stills are cleveHy interspersed. Selzniek's art ranges from evocative, shadowy spreads of Parisian streets to penetrating character close-ups. Leaving much to ponder about loss, time, family, and the creative impulse, tbe book closes with a waning moon, a diminishing square, and informative credits. This is a masterful narrative tbat readers can literally manipulate.
Lukehart, W. (2007). The Invention of Hugo Cabret. School Library Journal, 53(3), 218.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a very emotional book . I thought that I was going to cry at times. This book is very touching , because seeing a 10-year old
child live alone and have so much responsibility makes me wonder what I would
do if I was that child. I learned that even though life is tough, you will make it
through and you will have a happy ending.
KadaKia, R. (2011). The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Creative Kids, 29(4), 9.
In the Library
The librarian can read this to 4th-5th graders and have it on display for 6-9th graders. This book could be used as an introduction to the different genres of graphic novels, picture books, young adult novels. Students can decide what their favorite genre of the book was and check out another book with that particular genre. This will help patrons expand their book choices.
Selznick, B (2007). The Invention of Hugo Cabret. New York : Scholastic Press
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