The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret	HarperCollins Publishers
Written and Illustrated by Brian Selznick	2007
Fiction	544 pages
Reading Level age 8-11	Caldecott Award

Summary

Hugo is a boy who went to live with his uncle and helps wind the clock in a Paris train station. His uncle is missing so Hugo keeps the clocks running, winding them regularly. He steals food to eat and gears from the old man’s toy shop. The man catches him and has him work off all the things he has stolen. The old man snatched Hugo’s notebook and keeps it, threatening to burn it. Hugo cries and begs him not to. He follows the man and finds a girl at his house who promises that she will get the book back if she can look what is in it. Hugo runs off back to the station. He twists through the secret passages in the walls and ends at his hidden room. He takes out a section of the walls and takes out the machine that his father had been working to fix when he died in a museum fire. Those were the drawings in his notebook which he needed if he was to fix the mechanized man. He returns the next day to the toy shop for his precious notebook. The old man holds out a handful of ashes. Hugo is bereft and goes about his work. He finds a note from the girl saying his notebook wasn’t burned and to meet her, Isabelle at the book shop. He runs back to his room with his notebook, Isabelle follows him. She demands to see what the drawings showed. He tells about the automaton but gets her to leave. He keeps working at the toy shop taking gears and parts for the man. Finally he finished it. All he needed was a key. Isabelle takes him to the movies, afterward in the station again, he sees the inspector. Worried they found his uncle has been missing, he starts weaving thought people. Isabelle tried to follow him but fell; Hugo looks back and sees it. At the end of her necklace, the key! He helps her to her feet and gives her a hug, untying the necklace. He runs to his room clutching the last piece of the puzzle, finally able to see what the automaton would write through his pen. Isabelle bursts in and demands to watch since Hugo took her key. She turns the key and the man begins to draw. The image is a rocket crashed into the moon. The name signed is Georges Méliès. That was the old man’s name! Isabelle is stunned the name of the old toy maker she had been living with! Hugo couldn’t understand how he could have created this man. Hugo follows Isabelle home; still angry at him she slams the door catching his hand. Isabelle’s adoptive mother wraps his hand and deflects their questions. She doesn’t tell them anything but to leave well alone. Isabelle remembers a box that has been on a closet shelf and they work together to get it down. The box falls on Isabelle’s foot, spilling out papers all with intricate drawings all signed Georges Melies. Hugo grabs them and takes them home to the station. He searches the library and museum about Georges Méliès, all about his inventions and movies. Isabelle comes to tell Hugo Georges Méliès was sick and the toy shop couldn’t open. Hugo agrees to help Isabelle run the store. Two friends from the museum follow them home to see George and talk to Mama Jeanne about his movies. As they all watch the old movies, Georges Méliès, himself comes and asks how they found out. Hugo explains about the automaton, which Georges asks him to get. Hugo runs to his room, but is arrested by the Station Inspector. The mechanical man that he took so many hours fixing fell, breaking into thousands of parts. Georges Méliès arrives with Isabelle and takes Hugo home explaining how Hugo wasn’t stealing but returning the automaton to his owner. Six months later, there was a great celebration for Georges Méliès , showing all his recovered movies. Hugo is adopted by the Méliès family with his own workbench. At the gala, Georges titles Hugo as Professor Alcofrisbas, a character in his many movies mostly portrayed as a magician.

Response

This book is so interesting and unique. I love the pictures, drawn with pencil and the fact that the pages are black. It had characters that I related to and wanted to figure out. The story was engaging and had something happening all the time without seeming to detract from the main storyline. The best part of the book is the pictures. The pictures take the role of words for many of the pages. The scenes are so intricate that you can tell what the character is doing, show and emotion or action. There are pages with words that pick up the story here and there, conveying dialogue and descriptions that would be difficult to express through pictures, but for the most part the pictures are the main focus. I loved the twist at the end where you find that the entire book was written and drawn by his incredible automaton. I loved the character of Hugo and the odd job he had to wind all the station’s clocks. I enjoyed puzzling out and predicting how the story would unfold. Even at the end, I was surprised at the last twist that Professor H. Alcofrisbas was actually Hugo and created an automaton to write and draw out the collective story that is this book. I loved reading this book and think that it is a worthy addition to any library.

Possible Problems

There are many parts to the plot and may be confusing for real young children. Also Hugo must steal in order to feed himself, it wouldn't be a good example for younger children.

Recommendations

It would be a great book to read with younger children so they could interpret the story and tell you what is being described. This book is great for all ages and can be shared with anyone.