I’ll be renting them out in the weeks to come, and hopefully learning more about a subject (like early cinema) that I never knew might interest me. This was a unique read for sure, and I’m definitely curious now about those other two eyes that were peering at me from the shelf. I could imagine that some young readers might want to skip the text and run only to the pictures, but they’d certainly miss much of the story without it. The text obviously gives much needed context and dialogue to the story, allowing readers to learn more about all its characters like Hugo, Isabelle, Georges Meilies, and even turn-of-the-century French cinema. The frayed lines, the emphasis on darkness, the zooming and in out-all of these elements leave the reader feeling the haggardness and mystery that enshroud Hugo daily. The drawings in this book are dreamy rather than realistic. When Hugo gets caught stealing and his secret automaton obsession is revealed, his whole world goes haywire. To acquire the necessary parts, Hugo swipes wind-up toys from a shop in the station-much like how he steals the milk and bread to keep himself alive. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007) is written and illustrated by Brian Selznick, author of Wonderstruck, The Marvels, and several other well-known novels.The Invention of Hugo Cabret is categorized as historical fiction, but it fits into multiple other genres as well. Hugo believes that if he can repair the machine, his father will be able to send him a message through the images the automaton might create. The automaton-crafted inwardly like the most intricate of clocks-is the torso of a man at a writing desk with pen in hand. At the same time, Hugo is also trying to repair an automaton machine he’d found in the rubble of a museum fire in which his own father had died. Though just 12 years old, Hugo has been tending the clocks of this train station ever since his drunk uncle, the true clock-keeper, disappeared several months prior. The Invention of Hugo Cabret Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. Using only pencils on Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper (according the backmatter), Selznick captures the emotions and anticipations of young Hugo Cabret as he wanders the halls of an old train station in Paris in what feels like the 1920s or 30s. I don’t know anything about the Caldecott Honor books from 2008, but it’s pretty obvious after just 10 seconds with this book why Selznick won the top prize. This book is my introduction to him, and it certainly won’t be his last book that I ever read! But I am surprised that I hadn’t yet come across Brian Selznick in all of my time at the kindergarten and in elementary education over the past decade. Now it’s been a long while since I monitored Caldecott (or even Newberry) winners, so I wasn’t surprised that I’d never heard of this book. Actually, there were three eyes, because apparently author/artist Brian Selznick has been busy since winning the Caldecott Medal for this book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret in 2008. While perusing Tween novels with my kids the other day at our local library, I saw this massive volume on the shelf, an eye peering at me from the binding.
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