The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Selznick, Brian. 2007. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc. ISBN 0439813786
PLOT SUMMARY
Hugo is a young orphan living within the walls of a Paris train station. Having learned about clocks from his late father, Hugo maintains the clocks at the train station for his absent uncle. He steals food to survive and small toys from a toy booth in the station for a secret project started with his father. As one story leads to another, Hugo finds himself involved in a captivating mystery with his secret project, an inquisitive girl, and a bitter old man from the toy booth.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
    The story of Hugo Cabret is an intriguing blend of text and illustrations. It is part chapter book, part picture book, and part graphic novel that tells a moving (both literal and figurative) story. The detailed pencil drawings and historical photos found throughout the book not only supplement the story but tell the story as if watching a movie. The illustrations are an integral part of the story that capture the darkness representative of Hugo’s desperation to finish his father’s work, his bleak, secretive life, as well as the excitement and anticipation of the movie discovery and his future.
    Guest reader, Reace (8), thought it was a great story because of the running chase through the train station at the end and the text-illustration story format that is different from the other books he reads.
REVIEW EXCERPTS
2008 Caldecott Medal Award
#1 NEW YORK TIMES Best Seller
Starred review in PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY – “Here is a true masterpiece—an artful blending of narrative, illustration and cinematic technique, for a story as tantalizing as it is touching.”
Starred review in SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL – “Breathtaking.”
CONNECTIONS
*Students can write their own word and picture stories. See Scholastic for more here.
*More books on mystery, movies, and machines:
Selznick, Brian. The Houdini Box. ISBN 0689844514
Mast, Gerald and Kawin, Bruce. A Short History of the Movies. ISBN 0205210627
Peppe, Rodney. Automata and Mechanical Toys. ISBN 1861265107