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The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
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The Invention of Hugo Cabret

by Brian Selznick

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The Invention of Hugo Cabret was an interesting historical fiction read. Together with the story line and illustrations the book was quit unique. I enjoyed reading this story from start to finish. I never new where the story was going to go. A strength of this book was the plot. The author did a lot of research on this topic and it felt very realistic. I also loved the pictures. A weakness was character development. The characters seemed flat and dull compared to the action of the story. ( )
kate.damgaard | Jul 9, 2009 | 1 vote
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is the story of an orphan boy named Hugo, who takes care of all the clocks in Paris. He has become a thief throughout his days of being an orphan. He steals a toy from the old man at the toy booth and gets caught and is made to work for the man. The man take's Hugo's notebook of drawings which includes drawings of the robotic man. He meets his granddaughter, Isabelle. Isabelle and Hugo become friends. Hugo's father had found and rebuilt the robotic man who needed just one key to turn him on so he could draw. It turns out Isabelle has the key on her necklace. They robotic man draws a picture of a moon with a rocket in it. It turns out that Isabelle's grandfather is a world famous director who had forgotten about movies.

At first this book seems really intimidating because of it's length. However the book is filled with gorgeous drawings. And it is has some very nonfiction truth about it. George Meliese was a world famous magician turned into a world famous movie maker who made one of the first movies ever.

I would have students research the "robotic man" and see if their really is such a thing. I would also show them George Meliese's movie.
ASanner | Jun 21, 2009 | 1 vote
I can't remember who recommended this one to me, so I apologize for not giving credit where it's due. I really liked this one a lot, though the book itself looked incredibly daunting at first... but it turns out the story is told through words and pictures, with beautiful pencil drawings telling half the story and written words telling the rest of the story. It jumps back and forth as necessary... much like an old silent film, where words weren't always necessary, but the narrative would later pick up for a bit when images weren't quite enough. The story itself is about a young boy who works at a train station, keeping the clocks going after his uncle disappears... and that's all I want to say about it for now. I'll let you discover the rest for yourself. :) ( )
dk_phoenix | Jun 16, 2009 |  
A wonderful YA novel told in pictures as well as text. This book might be a good choice for a child's first 'long' historical novel as the actual text wouldn't be overwhelming. I loved the story and all the details about automata, clocks and the Paris of 1931. Then there was a great deal of early cinema history revealed, especially in Part Two. I would definitely recommend Selznick's book for late elementary and up.
hailelib | Jun 9, 2009 | 1 vote
Hugo Cabret lived with his clock repairman uncle behind a great clock in a train station in Paris. His alcoholic uncle has recently died and Hugo tries to remain in their apartment secretly, hiding from security and local businessmen. He keeps an old automaton his deceased father had once found and was trying to revive. Hugo tries to continue his father's task. He is taken in by an old man who catches him stealing from his shop. He befriends his granddaughter and wife and is introduced to the old man's world of silent films. With the intermingling of people and things mysteries of the automaton, the old man and his films and the boys own life are revealed.
This isn't just a novel but a gorgeous picture book, filled with the author/illustrator's detailed and sumptuous drawings, assisting the story into the somewhat silent world at the time. ( )
gildallie | Jun 8, 2009 | 1 vote
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People/Characters
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Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
For Remy Charlip and for David Serlin
First words
From his perch behind the clock, Hugo could see everything.
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Disambiguation notice
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Book description

Amazon.com (ISBN 0439813786, Hardcover)

Book Description:
Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.


Amazon.com Exclusive

A Letter from Brian Selznick

Dear readers,

When I was a kid, two of my favorite books were by an amazing man named Remy Charlip. Fortunately and Thirteen fascinated me in part because, in both books, the very act of turning the pages plays a pivotal role in telling the story. Each turn reveals something new in a way that builds on the image on the previous page. Now that I’m an illustrator myself, I’ve often thought about this dramatic storytelling device and all of its creative possibilities.

My new book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is a 550 page novel in words and pictures. But unlike most novels, the images in my new book don't just illustrate the story; they help tell it. I've used the lessons I learned from Remy Charlip and other masters of the picture book to create something that is not a exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things.

I began thinking about this book ten years ago after seeing some of the magical films of Georges Méliès, the father of science-fiction movies. But it wasn’t until I read a book called Edison's Eve: The Quest for Mechanical Life by Gaby Woods that my story began to come into focus. I discovered that Méliès had a collection of mechanical, wind-up figures (called automata) that were donated to a museum, but which were later destroyed and thrown away. Instantly, I imagined a boy discovering these broken, rusty machines in the garbage, stealing one and attempting to fix it. At that moment, Hugo Cabret was born.

A few years ago, I had the honor of meeting Remy Charlip, and I'm proud to say that we've become friends. Last December he was asking me what I was working on, and as I was describing this book to him, I realized that Remy looks exactly like Georges Méliès. I excitedly asked him to pose as the character in my book, and fortunately, he said yes. So every time you see Méliès in The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the person you are really looking at is my dear friend Remy Charlip, who continues to inspire everyone who has the great pleasure of knowing him or seeing his work.

Paris in the 1930's, a thief, a broken machine, a strange girl, a mean old man, and the secrets that tie them all together... Welcome to The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Yours,

Brian Selznick




Amazon.com Exclusive

Brian Selznick on a "Deleted Scene" from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

This is a finished drawing that I had to cut from The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I was still rewriting the book when I had to begin the final art. There was originally a scene in the story where this character, Etienne, is working in a camera shop. On one of my research trips to Paris I spent an entire day visiting old camera shops and photographing cameras from the 1930's and earlier, as well as the facades of the shops themselves. I researched original French camera posters and made sure that the counter and the shelves were accurate to the time period. I did all the drawings in the book at 1/4 scale, so they were very small and I often had to use a magnifying glass to help me see what I was drawing. After I finished this drawing I continued to rewrite, and for various reasons I realized that I needed to move this scene from the camera shop to the French Film Academy, which meant that I had to cut this picture. I tried really hard to find ANOTHER moment when I could have Etienne in a camera shop, but, as painful as it was, I knew the picture had to go. I'm glad to see it up on the Amazon website because otherwise no one would have ever seen all those tiny cameras I researched and drew so carefully!

--Brian Selznick


More from Brian Selznick


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The Boy of a Thousand Faces

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:01 -0400)

(see all 2 descriptions)

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