The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Selznick, B. (2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

Plot summary: Hugo Cabret is 12-year-old boy living in a 1931 Paris train station. Having lost his father in a terrible fire, Hugo is taken in by his uncle, whose job is to take care of the station’s clocks, and becomes his apprentice. When his uncle leaves one night and does not return, Hugo is so terrified of being sent to the orphanage that he takes over his uncle’s job himself—without telling anyone. Stealing what he needs to survive, since he does not know how to cash his uncle’s paychecks, Hugo spends his free time trying to fix a broken automaton that his father found before he died. Hugo believes that when the automaton is fixed, it will write a message from his father; he steals the parts he needs from an old man’s toy booth, but Hugo’s world is shaken when the man catches him in the act and Hugo drops his notebook. After a strange reaction to the notebook’s drawings, which were done by Hugo’s father, the man takes it and promises to burn it in return for Hugo’s thefts. In desperation, he follows the man home, but he only succeeds in meeting a young girl, Isabelle, who lives with the man and promises to help him get his notebook back. Hugo works in the old man’s booth to earn back his notebook while continuing to work on the automaton, and he manages to complete its repairs even without the notebook as a guide. When he steals the key around Isabelle’s neck to make the automaton work, she discovers where he lives, and together they watch as the machine draws a picture of a movie scene—and signs it Georges Méliès, the name of the old man. Now Hugo and Isabelle have a new mystery to solve: What does the old man, Isabelle’s godfather, have to do with the automaton? Working with Isabelle’s friend, university student Étienne, they discover that the old man was once a filmmaker and magician, and that he built the automaton to use in his work. They cannot understand why the Monsieur Méliès is so reluctant to remember his past, and they bring a professor from the film school and one of his old films to his home to help him. Once Monsieur Méliès is reunited with his work, and his automaton, he becomes a new person, and Hugo is able to leave the train station and move in with him, his wife, and Isabelle.

Genre: Mystery

Suggested age range: 8 to 14

Annotation: Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret is an incredible work that combines elements of film and text to form a story that is told through both words and pictures. With 158 original illustrations, drawn by Selznick himself, this novel is a work of art that switches seamlessly between the two mediums. Readers will enjoy searching for clues in the drawings as they make their way through this compelling mystery. Selznick presents readers with issues of identity, memory, and fear, and resolves them in a beautiful and touching way. This book is a great introduction to mystery for young readers because it is engaging without being intense.

Subjects/themes: Mystery, Films, Identity, Fear, Memory.

Awards:

• 2007 National Book Awards (Nominated)
• 2007 Original Voices Award (Nominated)
• 2007 Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Books (Won)
• 2007 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year (Won)
• 2007 Quill Awards (Won)
• 2008 American Library Association Notable Books for Children (Won)
• 2008 Bluebonnet Award (Nominated)
• 2008 Book Sense Book of the Year (Won)
• 2008 Caldecott Medal (Won)
• 2009 Mark Twain Award (Nominated)
• 2009 Rebecca Caudill Young Reader’s Book Award (Nominated)
• 2010 Young Reader’s Choice Award (Nominated)

Reviews:

• Booklist (January 1, 2007)
• Publishers Weekly (January 1, 2007; March 12, 2007)
• School Library Journal (March 1, 2007; July 1, 2007)
• Voice of Youth Advocates (February 1, 2007)

Character list:

• Hugo Cabret – A 12-year-old boy who lives in a Paris train station; he takes care of the clocks and tends to steal things. His father found the automaton, and he wants to fix it.
• Isabelle – A young girl who befriends Hugo; she is the goddaughter of Georges Méliès and lives with him and his wife.
• Georges Méliès (aka Papa Georges) – A former magician and filmmaker who now runs a toy booth in the train station; he is Isabelle’s godfather.
• Madame Méliès – Georges Méliès’ wife and Isabelle’s godmother; she is reluctant to bring up anything to do with Georges Méliès’ past.
• Étienne – A student at the Paris film school; he is Isabelle’s friend.

High-interest annotation: Young Hugo Cabret stumbles upon a mystery when he fixes a broken automaton; together, he and his friend Isabelle must discover what the automaton has to do with movies and the strange old man who runs the toy booth.