The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a wonderful and imaginative book by Brian Selznick. The book has received the 2008 Caldecott Medal and has been made into an award winning movie by Martin Scorsese. The book takes place in a 1930's Paris train station. Hugo Cabret is an orphan boy who lives in the walls of the train station. Hugo starts out as his uncles apprentice, who keeps the clocks at the train station, until his uncle goes missing. After his uncle goes missing Hugo continues his uncles job and tends to the clocks in the train station. Hugo spends most of his time trying to fix an automaton that his father was working on before he died. Hugo tries to fix the automaton by stealing parts to fix it. One day he is caught by a to store owner in the train station and the owner takes Hugo's notebook, that has his fathers instructions on how to fix it, as punishment. This leads to a friendship with the toy store owners goddaughter, Isabelle. Isabelle holds the "key" to fixing Hugo's fathers automaton. Do they find out who created the automaton and why? This is a must read to find out. 

Nearly a third of the book is pencil drawn pictures. This chapter book is a cross between picture book and chapter book and I think is a great way to transition young readers. I think that this story can be used as a read aloud in sections or as a classroom book students can read independently. The format and the wording are not to complicated for young readers and the pictures aid in telling the story. 

I think that this book could be used as a way to have a creative writing session. Because it is unknown who made the automaton and why you could have the students write their own story about what they think will happen when the automaton is fixed. 

I think that the book is engaging and will keep student readers on their toes and eager to find out what happens. When the movie is released I think it could be a treat for the kids to view and make comparisons between the two.