The Invention of Hugo Cabret
by Brian Selznick
The Invention of Hugo Cab...
by
Brian Selznick
|
|
| published
|
2007
|
| binding
| Unknown Binding |
| isbn
|
1602521123
(isbn13: 9781602521124)
|
| literary awards
| Caldecott Medal, 2008 |
| date added
|
01-11-08
|
|
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone!
Twelve-year-old Hugo Cabret lives inside the walls of Gare Montparnasse, a busy Paris train station. Trained by his uncle and guardian to keep the station clocks running, Hugo creeps stealthily through the vents and air shafts. Hugo’s very existence is a well-kept secret. Even the stationmaster doesn’t know Hugo’s uncle has been missing for three months.
Hugo lives in the small apartment at the station that he shared with his uncle. His uncle’s paychecks are piling up because Hugo doesn...more
Twelve-year-old Hugo Cabret lives inside the walls of Gare Montparnasse, a busy Paris train station. Trained by his uncle and guardian to keep the station clocks running, Hugo creeps stealthily through the vents and air shafts. Hugo’s very existence is a well-kept secret. Even the stationmaster doesn’t know Hugo’s uncle has been missing for three months.
Hugo lives in the small apartment at the station that he shared with his uncle. His uncle’s paychecks are piling up because Hugo doesn’t know how to cash them. He survives by scavenging food from the trash bins and stealing from the food vendors in the station.
Hugo’s only personal possession is a broken mechanical man, bent over a writing desk and prepared to deliver what Hugo is certain will be a message from his father. His life is framed by loneliness, hunger and a burning desire to repair the automaton.
Hugo’s father, a museum curator, discovered the automaton buried in corner of the museum attic. He often spent hours after his shift tinkering with the gears and other mechanical parts and documenting his efforts in notebooks. The night the museum burned, Hugo’s father was hard at work in the attic. The fire consumed everything, and Hugo became an orphan.
Drawn to the scene of the fire that took his father’s life, Hugo discovers the automaton hidden in the ashes, scorched and more broken than ever. He lugs the mechanical man back to his uncle’s apartment and, using his father’s one surviving notebook, resumes the work his father died trying to complete.
One of the shops in the train station belongs to a toymaker. The parts in his wind-up toys fit the mechanical man perfectly. Hugo watches the bitter old man and his bookish daughter carefully, occasionally stealing toys for parts.
Isabelle, the toymaker’s daughter, has been watching Hugo just as Hugo has been watching her. Intrigued by the boy in the walls, Isabelle pushes her way through his defenses and befriends him. Together, they bring the automaton to life.
The mechanical man does not pen a secret message from Hugo’s father. Rather, he sketches a scene from Georges Méliès’ film, Le Voyage dans la lune. Méliès’ films were lost in World War I, many of them melted down for celluloid to be used in soldier’s boot heels. Méliès himself is believed to be dead. Hugo remembers that Le Voyage dans la lune was his father’s favorite film.
Isabelle’s papa’s reaction to the sketch raises still more questions. For the first time, Hugo wonders if the toymaker’s parts fit the automation by coincidence only.
Brian Selznick has crafted a fascinating mystery based on the true story of innovative French filmmaker Georges Méliès. Each twist is revealed carefully, the shadows drawn away from the truth piece by agonizing piece until the story is fully told.
The illustrations in this book are beautiful and amazingly detailed. Rendered in charcoal, Selznick’s use of shadows lends an added air of mystery to the story. Each of the 300+ illustrations covers a two-page spread and serves to move the story forward without text. The most striking illustrations are in series that cover eight or ten pages. Selznick shifts the frame of each illustration in the series, tightening up the focus or broadening the frame to give his readers the feel of watching the scene through the lens of a camera.
I was completely captivated by the world of Hugo Cabret. The Invention of Hugo Cabret provided the perfect antidote to my post Harry Potter blues this summer. Selznick has joined the ranks of writers such as Lemony Snicket, J.K. Rowling and Marcus Zusak who have proven that juvenile literature isn’t just for kids.
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bookshelves:
children-young-adult,
manga-graphic-novels
Read in February, 2008
As I was a little more that 2/3 through The Invention of Hugo Cabret when I started wondering how many stars that I would give it. At first, I was even considering giving it 3 stars, which suprised me since so many people had told me that it was amazing. I have, since settled on giving it 4 starts, because I can't really sum up my first reaction to the work as "It was amazing!" which corresponds to 5 stars. However, now that I have said that, the following criticisms that I h...more
As I was a little more that 2/3 through The Invention of Hugo Cabret when I started wondering how many stars that I would give it. At first, I was even considering giving it 3 stars, which suprised me since so many people had told me that it was amazing. I have, since settled on giving it 4 starts, because I can't really sum up my first reaction to the work as "It was amazing!" which corresponds to 5 stars. However, now that I have said that, the following criticisms that I have for it that have prevented me from giving it 5 stars err on the side of "overburdening criticism," namely that the language was somewhat stilted and the characters weren't particularly well-developed. I also may have a bias because I found Isabelle annoying when she kept insisting that Hugo was a thief and a liar and nagging him to reveal his life story. Related to this is one of the other things that I think would've made this novel better, a more complete, but subtle, address of what I think is an important lesson in the story, that people (Hugo, Isabelle, Papa George, etc.) keep secrets that isolate them from others, that keep themselves from forming deeper personal relationships. Now, after pointing out all these criticisms, let me say that, I loved this book. As it was meant, this book spoke to me through the beautiful pictures. Although I said that the language was stilted, one could argue, is it really a sticking point? If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then Brian Selznick (or, if you've read the novel, Hugo's automaton) has spoken a million words.
Although the story was a familiar one insofar as it was reminiscent of a Charles Dickens rags-to-riches story, it explored the rich, largely untapped topic, at least in children's literature, of the beginnings of cinema and the wonder that it inspired. Through his illustrations, especially of the drawings of the labrynthine 1931 Paris train station and ending chase scene (As Hugo states, every movie should end in a good chase scene =), Selznick conveys this wonder, reawakens it, in an audience long accustomed to the magic of movies. Note, I chose to state that Selznick elicits wonder from his audience, not his readers. Initially, I wondered why Selznick didn't use a more standard graphic novel format until I realized, belatedly, that Selznick was using a novel to emulate film to convey the same sense of dreams made real, the feeling that Hugo and his father experienced the first, an every, time that they viewed Georges Méliès's A Trip to the Moon. Selznick succeeded beautifully, this book is a wondrous one, not only for children, but for adults as well, and also a springboard into the history of the origins of cinema. ...less
bookshelves:
books-read-in-2007
Read in April, 2007
INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET BY BRIAN SELZNICK: Brian Selznick, who previously has done a mixture of writing and illustration, brings us his greatest creation to date: The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The main character, Hugo, is a young orphan who used to live with his uncle behind the scenes of a Paris train station. Then his uncle died, and Hugo now spends his time, in the late 1930s, winding up and oiling, fixing and maintaining the many clocks and devices around the train station, all alone. He...more
INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET BY BRIAN SELZNICK: Brian Selznick, who previously has done a mixture of writing and illustration, brings us his greatest creation to date: The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The main character, Hugo, is a young orphan who used to live with his uncle behind the scenes of a Paris train station. Then his uncle died, and Hugo now spends his time, in the late 1930s, winding up and oiling, fixing and maintaining the many clocks and devices around the train station, all alone. He is rarely seen and actually lives behind the walls, while thousands of people, day to day, travel to make their trains, or disembark for other destinations.
It is on one day that he gets to know the man who owns the newsagents in the train station, after befriending his daughter. The story slowly unfolds that the man is actually George Méliès, one of the most important people in the early days of film, his most famous piece being about four men who traveled to the moon known as A Trip to The Moon, with the memorable image of the dough-like moon with a face grimacing as the bullet-like ship is shot into its eye. Méliès died in 1938, but it is in this story that he lives on working in obscurity at the newsagents. The story unravels further to reveal an inextricable link between Méliès and Hugo.
While this would be an enjoyable story in its own right, Selznick has created a new medium using not just words, or pictures, or illustrations, but incorporating all three into a chronological miasma. The book begins like a movie, with fifty pages of gray illustration as we zoom in on the train station, into the clock and Hugo Cabret. Then there is the start of the story in word form, but instantly switching to illustration again, and then cutting to photographs where necessary. The difference here is that the illustrations are not revealing the written word, but continuing the story of the word. You cannot skip one, or you miss the story. The Invention of Hugo Cabret uses all these forms to make this not just a book, but a collection of illustrations, and a type of movie or flicker-book that are all interwoven to tell the story of Hugo Cabret and his relationship with George Méliès, one of the original geniuses in the early days of film.
For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com....less
bookshelves:
fiction-adult,
juvenile,
young-adult
Read in November, 2007
If there were a rating for sheer coolness factor, this book would score off the charts, but do I approve of coolness for coolness's sake? Apparently in this case, I do. Hugo Cabret is orphaned, broke, and living a secret life behind the walls of a train station as he tries to piece together the story of a mysterious invention that his late father discovered and became obsessed with before his death. Along the way he runs afoul of the law and a crochety old man with a mysterious past who may be a...more
If there were a rating for sheer coolness factor, this book would score off the charts, but do I approve of coolness for coolness's sake? Apparently in this case, I do. Hugo Cabret is orphaned, broke, and living a secret life behind the walls of a train station as he tries to piece together the story of a mysterious invention that his late father discovered and became obsessed with before his death. Along the way he runs afoul of the law and a crochety old man with a mysterious past who may be a magician or something else entirely. The book is well over 500 pages long and therefore is not easily portable, but it's an astoundingly fast read, and any kid who balks should be shown that A) about half the book consists of sketchbook-style full page illustrations and B) there are many pages that only have a line or two of type on them. It's an interesting format, and one that is pivotal in one of the plot twists, and often works to heighten already building suspense. The book is a sort of homage to old school cinema, the art of the first movies and of French filmmaker Georges Méliès in particular (although explaining why would give it away) and captures the feel of that world so well and introduces a level of sophistication and allure that I think that YAs as well as grown-up film buffs could easily find a lot to love in this book as well. All this being said, there are some flaws. There is a minor character that really exists for no other reason than for the author to put his friend's name in the book, but makes prominent enough appearances towards the beginning that it initially leads you to think otherwise. There are very grave misunderstandings that cause a lot of danger and trouble to Hugo could have been cleared up quickly and easily with a few words, but he chooses to keep silent for no apparent reason other than to allow the author to spin out the melodrama further. It seems like a bit of a cheap trick, and I suppose it is, but naturally it's effective. There are at least three different chase scenes, a lot of risk and mystery, and a good deal of suspense running throughout. If ever there was a way to do the unthinkable and connect young boys with reading, classic cinema, and art all at once---this is it, and I can't help myself; I think that's pretty darn...cool....less
bookshelves:
comic-or-graphic-novel,
historical-fiction,
library-books,
reviewed
Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of sweet stories and creative storytelling methods
For being over 500 pages, this was about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour read, because there is a balance between words, and also full-paged pictures.
You can't talk about the book without talking about the author, who is in the movie business, and the way the pictures in the book told the story directly relates to a way a movie (especially a silent movie) tells a story. The pictures and the words worked together to create a unique and highly effective way to tell a story.
Hugo Cabret is an orphan. He li...more
For being over 500 pages, this was about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour read, because there is a balance between words, and also full-paged pictures.
You can't talk about the book without talking about the author, who is in the movie business, and the way the pictures in the book told the story directly relates to a way a movie (especially a silent movie) tells a story. The pictures and the words worked together to create a unique and highly effective way to tell a story.
Hugo Cabret is an orphan. He lives inside of the walls of the Paris train station in the 1930's, and has been keeping the clocks running, secretly, since his Uncle died.
His sole mission, though, is to get an automaton running, which his father found and was trying to fix before his death. To accomplish his mission, Hugo has been stealing gears and small parts from an old man's toy shop in the train station, and using a small notebook full of sketches that belonged to his father. One day, though, he is caught by the old man, who takes his notebook.
Isabelle, the granddaughter of the old man in the shop becomes interested in Hugo, and tries to help him get his notebook back...but little do the two of them know how much Isabelle holds the key to getting the automaton to work.
The story was unique, sweet, and surprising. You have an instant empathy for Hugo, and that empathy helps carry the reader through the story. Getting back to the illustrations, I was surprised to notice how much thought had been put into them, even down to the fact that the single spread illustrations have more detail, so you linger over them longer, yet the multiple page illustrations are less detailed, allowing the reader to flip through them faster, giving the feeling of seeing the action progess, the way it does on a movie screen.
The only issue I have with the book, is, in fact the title. I found it misleading, and wished that the author had come up with another that was more accurate.
This one is highly recommended, and has the feeling of a new classic about it....less
bookshelves:
kids-and-ya
Read in June, 2008
This is another one of those books that I heard about on NPR. Over a year ago, Selznick was on All Things Considered, and after listening to him describe his newest venture as more of a silent movie than a book with pictures, I knew I had to give this one a go.
Hugo Cabret is an orphan who lives in a tiny room between the walls of a Paris train station and maintains its clocks. Hugo has a secret...more
This is another one of those books that I heard about on NPR. Over a year ago, Selznick was on All Things Considered, and after listening to him describe his newest venture as more of a silent movie than a book with pictures, I knew I had to give this one a go.
Hugo Cabret is an orphan who lives in a tiny room between the walls of a Paris train station and maintains its clocks. Hugo has a secret - he has been hiding an automaton - a complicated windup figure - that his late father found in an old museum, and he has been stealing bits and parts from the old man who runs a wind-up toy shop in the station in order to fix the automaton. He comes to believe that the automaton will have a special message for him from his father. When the old man catches Hugo stealing more windup toys, Hugo is drawn into a story far bigger than his own, involving the old man, his goddaughter, the automaton, silent films, and just a little bit of magic.
Despite its lengthy appearance, it is easy to finish Selznick's book is less than a day. Much of the story is "told" through Selznick's two-page-spread illustrations. Indeed, much of the "action" sequences and climactic moments take place not through the words of the story, but through the drawings. This makes for an interesting reading experience - it took me back to my days of perusing picture books as a young child. It was a surprising turn of events for me, when I found that my interest was captured more by the pictures than the story told in words. The latter seems to be rather simplistic and lacking a certain excitement that the pictures conveyed. I loved the tie-ins between the format of the story to the film theme, as well as the connection between clocks and magic. When I got goosebumps, toward the end of the book, it wasn't because of the words but again, because of the pictures. In the end, then, this book succeeds precisely because of the experimental magic that Selznick has created. ...less
bookshelves:
comics,
france,
history
Read in February, 2008
Georges Melies was a cinema pioneer, producing about 500 short films in the early years of the 20th century. His most well remembered film was La Voyage Dans la Lune, which had the unforgettable image of the cheese-coated man in the moon with a rocket ship stuck in his eye. Melies was also a magician and maker of mechanical devices. Sadly, little of Melies' work remains. Much of his film stock was seized by the French military and melted down for boot heels in World War I, and his mechanical dev...more
Georges Melies was a cinema pioneer, producing about 500 short films in the early years of the 20th century. His most well remembered film was La Voyage Dans la Lune, which had the unforgettable image of the cheese-coated man in the moon with a rocket ship stuck in his eye. Melies was also a magician and maker of mechanical devices. Sadly, little of Melies' work remains. Much of his film stock was seized by the French military and melted down for boot heels in World War I, and his mechanical devices, donated to a museum, were left in a damp attic and eventually discarded.
In The Invention of Hugo Cabret, author Brian Selznick tells the story of Hugo Cabret, a 12 year old boy who, for reasons explained, is left to fend for himself inside the walls of Montparnasse train station. He has learned and inherited mechanical ability from his watch-maker father, and has, in a sense, inherited the job of station clock keeper from his drunken and now disappeared uncle. He has to steal food to survive. Through a tragic circumstance, Hugo discovers an automaton, a mechanical man seated at a desk, pen in hand.. The parts are rusty, bent, and broken, but Hugo works diligently to repair the automaton. Eventually he does so and thereby discovers an important secret.
This is not quite a comic or graphic novel. There are over a hundred full-page illustrations, but the story is told only in text, and the pictures do not have captions or dialogue. The sequences of pictures have a simple cinematic quality. A 'scene' will be depicted at closer and closer 'zoom' levels, ending with a close-up of a face, or of a shoe. The pictures themselves are dark and shadowy, using heavy lines and smudges to completely cover the drawing surface.
This is basically juvenile fiction, most suited to 10 to 15 year olds, I think. It was enjoyable enough as adult fiction, but lacked much depth. In all, a lightweight and interesting work, with an impressive number of drawings. ...less
bookshelves:
pretty-good-books
Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
pre-teens, cinema lovers
"The Invention of Hugo Cabret" is an interesting book, where the design of the book helps to convey the story through the use of full page illustrations for any "action" in the story. This, along with an unusually spare type layout (some pages just have one paragraph) help this 500+ page book fly by in just a few hours.
The story is of young Hugo Cabret, who lives in the Paris train station in the early 1930's. Fate has left Hugo as an orphan, who alone tends the clocks...more
"The Invention of Hugo Cabret" is an interesting book, where the design of the book helps to convey the story through the use of full page illustrations for any "action" in the story. This, along with an unusually spare type layout (some pages just have one paragraph) help this 500+ page book fly by in just a few hours.
The story is of young Hugo Cabret, who lives in the Paris train station in the early 1930's. Fate has left Hugo as an orphan, who alone tends the clocks in the station to keep them running. But fate also introduces Hugo to a station shopkeeper who has a secret of his own.
As Hugo grows closer to the shopkeeper, the story touches on the early history of French cinema (being, in fact, the early history of all cinema), and the films of Georges Melies (a pioneer of special effects and narrative style in early films). The book illustrates these points with helpful, full page photos from these films, although you may want to take a second to visit youtube to review the appropriate films in full motion.
On its own, the story is somewhat mediocre. But the unusual design of the book and the excellent way the early history of cinema is woven into the book help add a star to what would otherwise be a 3-star book. Highly recommended for pre-teen readers, and recommended to anyone older who has an interest in the era or early cinema.
After reading it, Alex (my 10-year-old son) wanted to watch the entire film of George Melies' "A Trip to the Moon". And any book that can get a 10-year-old boy interested in watching a 100+ year old silent film has got to be worth at least 4 stars for that fact alone.
(Additional note: If you read this book, I highly recommend finding the final episode of Tom Hanks' miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" on DVD. This episode recreates the filming of "A Trip to the Moon", and is a perfect way to discover the true power of Melies' vision)....less
bookshelves:
juvenile
Read in June, 2007
this book has been on my bedside table for awhile with that “i really should read this” look about it. i finally picked it up yesterday and resigned myself to a long, thick read and was delighted to discover, when i opened the book, that it’s about half illustrations and not text dense at all! in fact, it’s as close to an even mix of “graphic novel” and “novel novel” as i’ve seen –except that the illustrations don’t have any dialogue in them and aren’t laid out comic-book...more
this book has been on my bedside table for awhile with that “i really should read this” look about it. i finally picked it up yesterday and resigned myself to a long, thick read and was delighted to discover, when i opened the book, that it’s about half illustrations and not text dense at all! in fact, it’s as close to an even mix of “graphic novel” and “novel novel” as i’ve seen –except that the illustrations don’t have any dialogue in them and aren’t laid out comic-book style. you really have to see the book to get it. basically, the author has written a book that deals with old silent films and they’ve designed the book to somewhat reflect that feeling. every page has a thick black border (so that when the book is closed, the pages look black (y’know how some books have gold leaf on the edges? like that.)) and the illustrations, when they come, are full-page illustrations that span across two whole pages. action occurs in the illustrations (girl finds secret hiding space, finds a big box inside, takes box down, chair that she’s standing on breaks…) in gradual motion. grrr… i’m not doing a very eloquent job of explaining it. suffice it to say that i was entranced for 2 hours or so as i read the book from cover to cover. i was a bit frustrated with the characters who seemed reluctant to explain their actions (”i want you to give me back that notebook because it’s the only thing i have left from my dead father.” now was that so hard to say?) and sometimes their motivations didn’t really seem sufficient to me (”i decided to quit making movies because one of the guys i worked with died in a car accident.”) but the feel of the story and the illustrations and the general design of the book were fantastic....less
bookshelves:
graphic-novels
Read in January, 2010
(CIP) When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.
(Claudia) This award-winning graphic novel, set in and around a Paris train station in 1931, is a wonderful mix of beautifully rendered double-page pencil drawings, cinematic techniques, and suspenseful storytelling. The realistically detailed illustrations follow...more
(CIP) When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.
(Claudia) This award-winning graphic novel, set in and around a Paris train station in 1931, is a wonderful mix of beautifully rendered double-page pencil drawings, cinematic techniques, and suspenseful storytelling. The realistically detailed illustrations follow characters in motion, zoom in on buildings, faces, and running feet, and periodically shift point of view, telling the story through 300+ wordless frames. Meanwhile, interspersed chapters of text tell a suspenseful tale of Hugo, a recently-orphaned 12-year-old who is secretly living in workmen’s rooms hidden in the station ceiling. During the day he keeps the station clocks running, while at night he tries to repair the automaton his father had been working on when he died. Hugo believes the mechanical man will write him a last guiding message from his father. But an old toy seller in the station lobby has angrily stolen his father’s notebook of drawings, and the old man’s foster daughter, a girl Hugo’s own age, seems unsure whether to befriend Hugo or fight with him. Definitely an engaging tale and a marvelous presentation. Gr. 5-9
(SLJ) Starred review. “With characteristic intelligence, exquisite images, and a breathtaking design, Selznick shatters conventions related to the art of bookmaking in this magical mystery set in 1930s Paris.”
(PW) Starred review. “Here is a true masterpiece—an artful blending of narrative, illustration and cinematic technique, for a story as tantalizing as it is touching.”
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bookshelves:
tweens
Read in March, 2007
Part one finds Hugo Cabret living in a Paris train station and stealing mechanical toys. He is caught by the owner of the toy stand, who takes from Hugo a notebook that was in his pocket. Hugo is determined to get the notebook back, and finally the shopkeeper agrees to hire him on to work in the store to pay off his debt.
In the meantime we find out that Hugo lives alone in the train station; his father died, his uncle disappeared, and Hugo is left alone to continue maintenance on the tra...more
Part one finds Hugo Cabret living in a Paris train station and stealing mechanical toys. He is caught by the owner of the toy stand, who takes from Hugo a notebook that was in his pocket. Hugo is determined to get the notebook back, and finally the shopkeeper agrees to hire him on to work in the store to pay off his debt.
In the meantime we find out that Hugo lives alone in the train station; his father died, his uncle disappeared, and Hugo is left alone to continue maintenance on the train station clocks. Except he hasn’t told anyone his uncle disappeared, because he has no where else to go if they take him away, and he doesn’t know how to cash his uncle’s checks. Therefore he has to steal to get by.
We also find out that Hugo’s notebook is filled with drawings done by his father on how to fix a mechanical man, an automan, that Hugo has stored in his room. He needs his notebook back to finish the automan and get the final message his father left for him. But the shopkeeper is disturbed by the drawings and won’t give them back. With the help of the shopkeeper’s daughter, Isabelle, Hugo gets his drawings back and discovers the secret behind the automan.
Selznick uses his illustrations here to literally tell parts of the story, rather than to supplement the text. He intermixes a few pages of text with a few pages of pictures, usually to emphasize chase scenes or tender moments. Even though the illustrations are merely black-and-white pencil shadings, the effect is a more visual experience than your average illustrated book. The story, while already compelling, is made all the more so by this technique. Recommended for late elementary school readers or younger if read aloud by parents.
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Read in May, 2008
Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret has been racking in the awards. It was a 2007 National Book Award finalist and won the mother of all children’s awards: the 2008 Caldecott Medal.
Hugo Cabret is a young French orphan with many secrets. He lives in a Paris train station where he keeps the clocks running, but his life changes when he meets a toy seller and his goddaughter.
The book’s thickness, at over 500 pages, is initially intimidating. Physically, the tome is unw...more
Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret has been racking in the awards. It was a 2007 National Book Award finalist and won the mother of all children’s awards: the 2008 Caldecott Medal.
Hugo Cabret is a young French orphan with many secrets. He lives in a Paris train station where he keeps the clocks running, but his life changes when he meets a toy seller and his goddaughter.
The book’s thickness, at over 500 pages, is initially intimidating. Physically, the tome is unwieldy and difficult to handle for an adult, so I can only imagine the troubles a child might have. Ultimately, though, a majority of the book is illustrations, so reading it is not difficult.
Unfortunately, for a Caldecott winner, I was more interested in the story than the illustrations. I cared more about what happened to Hugo Cabret than looking at pictures about him. And I was confused by some of the book’s choices, particularly its use of white space in the textual areas. In a green era, it feels inappropriate to waste so much paper and space.
I was also a bit disappointed that Selznick does not take greater advantage of the Parisian setting. The city could have been another character in the novel; instead, the story easily could have taken place in any city. I always long for scenes and illustrations of Paris, and this book did not satisfy my cravings. Indeed, I was more interested in the illustrations not created by Selznick—clips from films, drawings by Georges Méliès, a photo of a train wreck.
The book is interesting, the illustrations nice, and the story intriguing, but I am not convinced any of it is award-winning caliber. I wonder if the book was chosen based on volume....less
bookshelves:
odd
Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone!!
Can I give it SIX stars?? I really really love this book! It's like watching a silent movie, in book form. It's a mysterious, heartwarming tale about an orphan boy who hides in a Paris train station, keeping the clocks running, hoping to one day uncover the secret of the little mechanical man left him by his father. It's the story of magic: the magic of clockworks, the magic of magic tricks, and the magic of the movies. It's about finding secrets, about rediscovering your past and reinventing yo...more
Can I give it SIX stars?? I really really love this book! It's like watching a silent movie, in book form. It's a mysterious, heartwarming tale about an orphan boy who hides in a Paris train station, keeping the clocks running, hoping to one day uncover the secret of the little mechanical man left him by his father. It's the story of magic: the magic of clockworks, the magic of magic tricks, and the magic of the movies. It's about finding secrets, about rediscovering your past and reinventing yourself. And it's absolutely gorgeous. To say it is an "illustrated book" is a vast understatement. It's not a picture book, not a novel with pictures or a graphic novel, because the words are totally separate from the pictures, yet if you took out one or the other you would not be able to make sense of the book. It's a new hybrid. There are 533 pages, and probably 200 or more of them are beautiful black and white drawings, very detailed, precisely plotted to draw you in and show movement, just as the camera does in a film. It's a great homage to the movies. I don't know how kids react to it, but I knew a lot of the history that it refers to, and I was captivated. Check out the website after you read it, ,a href="http://www.theinventionofhugoc..., to see the famous old black and white movie that is featured in the book, and a lot of other cool stuff relating to the book. It's nominated for the National Book Award and totally deserves it. IMNSHO. :-)...less
bookshelves:
childrenslit,
if-stranded-on-a-deserted-island
recommends it for:
People trapped in elevators with nothing else to read
***NOTE: This book is on my if-stranded-on-a-deserted-island shelf solely for use as a firestarter- it is rather large and I can rip out and roll up its many pages into convenient bits of kindling.***
A royal disappointment. I am glad I got this from the library, instead of purchasing it for $22. Far from the "stunning, cinematic tour de force" that it alleges to be on the front flap, this book fails in its attempt to "combine elements of picture book, graphic novel, and f...more
***NOTE: This book is on my if-stranded-on-a-deserted-island shelf solely for use as a firestarter- it is rather large and I can rip out and roll up its many pages into convenient bits of kindling.***
A royal disappointment. I am glad I got this from the library, instead of purchasing it for $22. Far from the "stunning, cinematic tour de force" that it alleges to be on the front flap, this book fails in its attempt to "combine elements of picture book, graphic novel, and film." The writing is banal and reminiscent of your Great Uncle Albert’s attempt to tell a bedtime story despite the fact that he has minimal contact with children and grossly underestimates their ability to comprehend complex sentences.
This book is:
1 part Horatio Alger and 3 parts “suck.”
The illustrations are well crafted, but act only as a straightforward narrative device. They contain no hidden secrets and leave little room for analysis or discussion with children during a read aloud.
**slight spoiler alert**
The end offers a subtle twist on the old cliché’ “all this really happened, and I, the author, am the main character, and I’m writing it all down for you to read.”
I often argue that you really CAN tell a book by it’s cover. In this instance, I have been proven wrong.
4 thumbs down.
...less
bookshelves:
childrens,
graphic-novels,
historical-fiction,
read-in-2008
Read in February, 2008
This is a very interesting story of a young orphan boy, Hugo Cabret, who works as a clock keeper after his uncle mysteriously disappears. At the same time, he steals small clockwork devices from the local toymaker in order to work on an automaton that his father had been trying to repair before his death.
The automatons were a neat subject which I knew little about, so it was extra-fun to learn a little about that (I'm definitely going to be pulling up more information about them!). Selznick ...more
This is a very interesting story of a young orphan boy, Hugo Cabret, who works as a clock keeper after his uncle mysteriously disappears. At the same time, he steals small clockwork devices from the local toymaker in order to work on an automaton that his father had been trying to repair before his death.
The automatons were a neat subject which I knew little about, so it was extra-fun to learn a little about that (I'm definitely going to be pulling up more information about them!). Selznick pulled a very interesting footnote in history and made a great story out of it! It's a fun story that is full of mystery, and I found myself pulled right along without any dull moments. I also learned a bit about early film-making!
While the book is long (weighs in very heavy at 533), this book only took about an hour to get through because more than half of it is beautiful black-and-white illustrations. Also, there's a number of illustrations and stills from Georges Melies, an early film-maker that features quite a bit in the novel. It's an interesting way to tell a story--most of the descriptive passages that a normal novel would have are removed and instead we're given long series of illustrations. There's a chase scene that goes on for page after page in illustrations, and it's just a great way to get the story of Hugo running away than it might have been through only words.
This is definitely worth the short amount of time it takes for anyone interested in the subjects it deals with.
Now I need to see if I can hunt down some Georges Melies films somehow......less
bookshelves:
drama,
ya
Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
3rd grade on up
Okay, I picked this book up knowing only a couple things. It won the 2008 Caldecott award. It's thick. Like 530 some pages thick. That interested me because I'd guess the Caldecott winners aren't usually anywhere near this many pages. So I figured there must be something to this massive 'kids' book.
I thumbed through it enough to see there were a lot of pencil-on-paper drawings set up graphic novel-ish. Also there are a handful of photographs and then a regular novel-novel tossed in t...more
Okay, I picked this book up knowing only a couple things. It won the 2008 Caldecott award. It's thick. Like 530 some pages thick. That interested me because I'd guess the Caldecott winners aren't usually anywhere near this many pages. So I figured there must be something to this massive 'kids' book.
I thumbed through it enough to see there were a lot of pencil-on-paper drawings set up graphic novel-ish. Also there are a handful of photographs and then a regular novel-novel tossed in there too.
The pictures and drawings are great. Awesome really. And man-o-man do I wish the whole book was done this way. I could do without the prose. The writing, I understand isn't supposed to draw in a 31 year old dude, but for crying out loud a 31 year old dude might have to read this thing to his kid. It should at least be written well enough that he might enjoy reading it to said kid. Geesh. I haven't taken the time to figure this out, but the book reads like it was translated from a language other than English. If it wasn't then the writing sucks. If it was then the editing sucks. Don't get me wrong here....great story, poor writing. I see this thing had it's movie rights picked up. That I'm looking forward to. Could be quite good.
Still, this book is interesting because of the format. It's a novel done with graphic help. And that is done well. The pictures by themselves keep this book from being a single star for me. I guess I'm being and ass because I liked the idea of the story and part of it's execution, just not all of it....less
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
all
"Did you ever notice that all machines are made for some reason?" he asked Isabelle. "They are built to make you laugh, like the mouse here, or to tell the time, like clocks, or to fill you with wonder, like the automaton. Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do."
..."Maybe it's the same with people," Hugo continued. "If you lose your purpose...it's like you're broken."
...more
"Did you ever notice that all machines are made for some reason?" he asked Isabelle. "They are built to make you laugh, like the mouse here, or to tell the time, like clocks, or to fill you with wonder, like the automaton. Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do."
..."Maybe it's the same with people," Hugo continued. "If you lose your purpose...it's like you're broken."
Beautiful words. The crux of this story on so many levels. And perhaps the story of each of our lives. Whether the kids that read this book get this yet in life or not (though I believe many will, especially if their parents who read the book, too, discuss it with them), it's still better that they read it, and the world is infinitely better for Selznick taking the painstaking time and effort to produce it.
Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this book. The drawings of Brian Selznick, as usual, are second to none. And I happen to like his writing, though I am nearing thirty years old. Kids will have something to grow into and appreciate as they age even if they don't quite get it all yet.
The ending of the book is worth its weight (quite considerable; it's a large book, but so well-designed and presented; quite mood-evocative and cinematic) in gold. No spoilers here, though. But be sure to reflect on its meanings, its implications, its repercussions for each life on earth.
Oh, and shame on you, negative critics/reviewers....less
recommends it for:
comic book fans, people who like movies and a great story, mystery fans
The scene is Paris, France 1929, Hugo Cabret, a twelve year old orphan and aspiring magician lives in the clock keeper's apartment at the train station with his uncle until he mysteriously disappears. Hugo must keep the clocks in the station in working order or he will surely be discovered and thereby thwart his secret project. What is his secret project you ask? Well, I'll give you a hint. While learning skills from his horologist (clockmaker) father before his death, Hugo is able to fix and cr...more
The scene is Paris, France 1929, Hugo Cabret, a twelve year old orphan and aspiring magician lives in the clock keeper's apartment at the train station with his uncle until he mysteriously disappears. Hugo must keep the clocks in the station in working order or he will surely be discovered and thereby thwart his secret project. What is his secret project you ask? Well, I'll give you a hint. While learning skills from his horologist (clockmaker) father before his death, Hugo is able to fix and create animated toys and trinkets. After he is caught stealing gears from a local toy shop, he finds he is mysteriously connected to the toy maker Papa Georges and their adopted daughter, Isabella. Despite this book's lengthy appearance, over 200 pages are black and white sketched illustrations that move the story along. This hybrid book was an amazing example of the use of pictures and text to create an entire image in the mind. This book is like a story with its mechanical parts all in working order. The credits in the back of the book were a wonderful addition that points you to real resources that inspired the book. To learn more about George Melies who inspired this book, go to http://www.mshepley.btinternet... For grades 3 and up.
Food for thought: "I address you all as you truly are: wizards, mermaids,travelers,adventurers, and magicians. You are the true dreamers" This was said by Papa Georges. What dreams of the future do you have?...less
So Brian Selznick's newest book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, has had a lot of praise heaped upon it. National Book Award Finalist. Caldecott Medal Winner. It's been called "groundbreaking." And there are rumors Martin Scorsese may direct the movie adaptation (he isn’t).
That aside, Selznick's book really is quite an amazing piece of work. Part picture book, part novel, the book tells the story of Hugo Cabret, a boy who's lost his father and his uncle and must fend for himself on t...more
So Brian Selznick's newest book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, has had a lot of praise heaped upon it. National Book Award Finalist. Caldecott Medal Winner. It's been called "groundbreaking." And there are rumors Martin Scorsese may direct the movie adaptation (he isn’t).
That aside, Selznick's book really is quite an amazing piece of work. Part picture book, part novel, the book tells the story of Hugo Cabret, a boy who's lost his father and his uncle and must fend for himself on the streets of Paris. Well, the train station of Paris at the very least. And while graphic novels have done what this book does for years, there is still a groundbreaking quality.
It could be that the pictures are mostly simple pencil sketches to help move the story along. Or it could be how they are used so cinematically. At times, like a chase scene late in the book, where words couldn't do justice, Selznick lets his images tell the story. And somehow manages to dazzle and amaze the reader by picking the right moments to show. He also keeps readers enthralled with mystery and magic. Not to mention film buffs will enjoy the film references and the integral part movies play to the story.
It may be a children's book. It may not be groundbreaking. It may not be directed by Scorsese (it won’t be). But The Invention of Hugo Cabret plays on our imaginations like only a true masterpiece can.
...less
bookshelves:
read-alouds-with-kids
We discovered this book as a family last year, and it quickly became a favorite of not only ours, but our extended family and the kids' classmates and teachers, too. What makes this book magical are the detailed pictures that are so much more than mere illustrations. Selznick's story revolves around silent films and the role that magicians and their automata played in them (an odd choice for children's lit, and yet it works--opening their eyes to a very different world of entertainment than th...more
We discovered this book as a family last year, and it quickly became a favorite of not only ours, but our extended family and the kids' classmates and teachers, too. What makes this book magical are the detailed pictures that are so much more than mere illustrations. Selznick's story revolves around silent films and the role that magicians and their automata played in them (an odd choice for children's lit, and yet it works--opening their eyes to a very different world of entertainment than the one th 
