The Invention Of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Bibliography:
Selznick , Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. New York: Scholastic Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0439813785

Plot Summary
Hugo Cabret, the orphaned son of a clockmaker,lives alone in the walls of a Paris train station where he tends to the many clocks.  Left an orphan by his father's death in a museum fire, Hugo is taken in by his Uncle Claude, who is the real clock keeper of the station.  When Uncle Claude doesn't come home, Hugo assumes his duties as his own and quietly lives in the walls of the station, tending the clocks, and stealing mechanical parts from the station's toy store run by a stern old man. 
Hugo is trying to rebuild a human like automaton that his father was working on at the museum at the time of his death.  He rescues the machine from the rubble of the museum and brings it back to the museum, and using his father's notebook attempts to repair it in hopes that it will give him some message from his father.

When Hugo is caught stealing from the toy story, the old man takes his father's notebook from him and threatens to burn it.  Hugo keeps returning to the store to ask for his notebook, and finally the old man gives him a job, and tells him he might give the notebook back.
Hugo meets the old man's Goddaughter, Isabelle and her older friend Etienne and begins his first friendship since being orphaned.   One day the old man comes into the store enraged and accuses Hugo of breaking in to his house to steal the notebook.  Hugo knows that Isabelle must have taken it.  He notices she is wearing a heart shaped key that matches the key hole in the back of the automaton, so when he hugs Isabelle, he steals her key.

She realized that he's stolen the key and follows him to where he lives in the walls of the station and together they wind up the refurbished automaton and it draws a picture from one of the favorite childhood films of Hugo's father.  That film is "Trip to the Moon" and the automaton signs the picture George Melies, who Isabelle recognizes as her Godfather.

After showing the image to Isabelle's Godmother she tells them to take it away and to leave the matter alone because Georges wants to leave the past behind him.  The children are not satisfied with this and they go to the Parisian Film Academy where they encounter their friend Etienne who helps them find information about George Melies.  They discover that he was a pioneer of early film, and that he is thought to be dead and his most of his movies destroyed.

They invite Etienne and a scholar from the Academy to come to Georges' house without telling anyone that they are coming.  They bring one of Georges' films with them, but when Georges hears the projector from the next room he grabs the projector, returns to his room and locks the door.  Isabelle picks the lock and they all come into Georges room where he tells them the story of his movie career.  He asks Hugo to go back to the station and get the automaton, which Georges had built himself.  On his return to the station, Hugo overhears that his Uncle Claude has been found dead in the river.  This startles him and he drops a bottle of milk he was carrying and the station inspector begins to chase him.  In the hustle of the train station, he falls onto the tracks in front of an incoming train.  Just in time to save him, a hand reaches down and grabs Hugo, pulling him to safety.
The man who pulled him to safety was Georges who is wearing a magicians cape.  They retrieve the automaton and everyone is safe.

The story jumps forward six months and Hugo is now living with Poppa Georges and his family and they are all going to an event at the Film Academy honoring Georges Melies.  They all go to the event and are enthralled by the magic and beauty of Poppa Georges' films.  And they are a family.

Critical Analysis
The book, told by a third person narrator, that we later learn is the adult Hugo who had built his own automaton to write the book, has a fascinating and exciting story told through text, drawings and photographs.

This is a book about many things including family, loneliness, acceptance, art, and film.  And along with text, the story is told, in many place entirely through the drawings.  The drawings are reminiscent of film scenes with establishing shots, closer shots, and then shots leading us into a situation or to a main character.  Much of the story, including the climactic chase through the train station is told solely through Selznick's magnificent pencil drawings.  On my first read of the book, I found myself turning the pages as fast as I could because the action was contained in those drawings as was as engaging and exciting as any text could have been.  The drawings aren't in the book to accompany the text, but are as important as the text, and perhaps more important in that they bring us into that world of cinema where Georges Melies made his mark. 
In addition to pencil drawings, there are original drawings by the real Georges Melies, as well as still an photographs from some of his movies showing the magic and imagination contained in a character who initially seems just a grumpy old man. 
Brian Selznick says, in a statement on Amazon.com, that the book "...is not  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." (Amazon.com)

I agree.  This is more than a book, it is a work of art that tells a story.  It is cinema on a page, it is a story told through mixed media.  It is quite beautiful to look at and to read.  The author has brought the theme of the story into the artwork of the book, integrating the theme of cinema into text, drawings, photographs, an film stills.  In this book, form is often function as the magic of early cinema is felt and sensed through the artwork and text. 
Hugo's story is a sad one throughout most of the book, but the happy ending is one that would be right at home in films modern and aged.
 
This book demands more than one reading.  After reading for stories, I hope children will go back and read the book again, paying close attention to the artwork, and the way it is done, and the way it tells the story.

Review Excerpts:
The Book Smugglers:  "...although this a story about an orphaned boy, The Invention of Hugo Cabret is at its core a story about early cinema inspired by the life and work of Georges Méliès, about the beginnings of filmmaking and about how truly magical it was." (The Book Smugglers Website)
2008 Caldecott Medal
National Book Award Finalist
A New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2007
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2007
2007 Quill Award Winner

Connections:
Children can discuss and explore more about early cinema.
Comparisons to the movie version named "Hugo" can be explored.
The book opens up an excellent opportunity to explore the transition of books into films.
Children can attempt to tell their own story using their own drawings and see more clearly the way pictures can tell stories, even with older children and adults.
The book can open a discussion about silent film
References:
Brian, Selznick. Amazon.com, "Amazon.com The Adventure of Hugo Cabret." http://www.amazon.com/Invention-Hugo-Cabret-Brian-Selznick/dp/0439813786/ref=sr_1_1?s=books.
The Book Smugglers, "Book Review: The Invention of Hugo Cabret." http://thebooksmugglers.com/2011/08/book-review-the-invention-of-hugo-cabret-by-brian-selznick.html.