Brian SelznickThe Invention of Hugo Cabret

As a teacher of dyslexic students, I appreciate just how hard it is to find a book for a low-skilled older student. Virtually impossible. You don't want to insult the student, but you don't want to frustrate them with a book that is entirely too difficult. And what about your emergent readers? Older students who are just learning to read. Do you give them picture books and chapter books? What if you had a really beautiful story, full of gorgeous illustrations disguised as usual middle reader book (except much bigger and much heavier)? Brian Selznick created a masterpiece with The Invention of Hugo Cabret, but when he did, I am sure he didn't realize he was creating a bridge for emergent readers into the world of book lovers.Hugo was orphaned twice. When his father was killed in a fire in his workshop working on a device Hugo wanted him to fix, Hugo was sent to live with his uncle. Hugo's uncle lived in the train station and was responsible for winding all the clocks twice a day. It wasn't the hardest job in the world, but it took a lot of responsibility so the clocks didn't fall behind and break down. When Hugo's uncle disappears, Hugo takes over the clocks and keeps up the ruse his uncle is still there because he has no other place to go.Unable to cash his uncle's checks, Hugo is forced to steal his food. He only steals out of necessity, except for toys. Hugo can't resist the toy booth run by the old man, but when he is caught stealing a toy mouse, the old man forces him to fix it. He takes Hugo's notebook- the last thing Hugo has from his father that holds the secrets to fixing the device his father died trying to fix for Hugo- the automaton. Hugo salvaged the automaton from the building where his father was killed, but without the notebook, he will never get the figure to work. When the old man sees Hugo's ability to fix the toy, he puts him to work fixing toys in the shop. By day Hugo works in the shop, but night he works on the automaton. It is a busy life, but Hugo just wants his notebook back. When the old man's goddaughter promises to get it back for him, he doesn't realize the secrets they will uncover together. There is more to the old man than Hugo ever realized, but then again, the old man didn't know Hugo was an orphan living in the train station either.The beauty of this book, besides the pages and pages of beautiful illustrations, was the ability of those illustrations to tell huge parts of the story. An emergent reader must look at a book and be completely overwhelmed by all those words. Pages and pages of words. So what if half the story was told by a series of illustrations that wordlessly told a beautiful story of a sad boy who finds people who care about him? I love this book for many reasons, but the biggest reason is that I can just see a student who is just starting to read being able to successfully wade through this book in all its bulk (500+ pages) and know they have read a book. Imagine the pride that would come from that student?So I have to say, I think Selznick is a genius. He created a book that is not only beautiful, but one that can appeal to even the most low-skilled students. I think it is an important book for any children's library or classroom, especially for students with learning disabilities. The illustrations can emote with little effort and will provide tons of material for discussions. You can have students write the dialogue or describe the illustrations as an activity. If a student is creative, you can have them illustrate the portions of the book that aren't already illustrated. The opportunities are limitless.

I simply have never had this experience before. No book I've read has ever combined graphics as part of the actual movement of the story - not as supportive to the dialog, not to clarify the words, but as vehicles themselves to carry the story forward. They are pencil drawings, beautifully shaded. It is a more like the merging of a book and a silent black and white movie.Good stories are layered. The tale hangs mainly on our protagonist, the orphan Hugo, living within the walls and spaces of a Parisian train station. He has taken on the function of time keeper/clock winder that his now missing uncle once performed. A mysterious mechanical man in disrepair, left to Hugo by his beloved father, becomes the vehicle to join the child to another station character - the crotchety toy merchant who maintains a small shop in the main concourse. Hugo uses pieces from the mechanical toys - which he has stolen from the merchant - to tinker with the mechanical man. Once he is caught, we have the opportunity to learn more about the old man through Hugo's interaction with him and his young niece, Hugo's new friend.The pivotal character of the station's toy merchant pulls us further into this world when Hugo discovers his past as a magician and as a pioneer with film. By placing the story within a train station, Brian Selznick can tip his hat to some of the groundbreaking first attempts at film which used the same type of venue, as well as the genius of imagination that was set free with this new medium. The great clocks of the station's tower help us remember Harold Loyd, and the trains were the subjects of some of the first films. It is at this point that the use of the black and white illustrations takes on another function, speaking to us about the dramatic way images, without sound and color, can still speak to us so eloquently.This is one of those special books that has a compelling story that can be read by a young reader, and at the same time can be a bridge to historical events when read by an adult. I chose to explore Hugo Cabret after seeing a trailer for the movie "Hugo." My intention was to pre-screen the book to see if it was appropriate for a great niece's Christmas present. To my surprise, as an adult I was enthralled. And as so often happens, the book's story became a doorway - it led me to trace more information about the earliest experiments with film. The relationship between early film and magicians was a surprise to me. And perhaps as a person living approximately a century after film began, let alone having no memory of a life without it, it is understandable that I had no perspective about the effects of the first films on their viewers - a world of imagination, nightmares and dreams. How strange, magical and wonderful it all must have seemed.Knowing Scorsese's love of film history, I am now anxious to see how he has brought this book to film to tell both a child's story and to help all of us appreciate the evolution of what we are watching.

Brilliant! I was reluctant to chose this book by its mere size - over 500pages! But I am blown away by the hand drawn pages of pictures that tell the story as if they were words. Each picture is frameable! No wonder it is a classic. BE BRAVE and you'll be rewarded with this story!

I bought this book for my son, along with the DVD. Great story with nice illustrations, and incorporates some great film history into it as well.