The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
By: Brain Selznick
Scholastic Press 2007
Book to Movie Comparison 

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is absolutely amazing on so many levels. From the art to the story to the ending everything about it is perfect. Hugo is a young boy living in France. His father and him stumbled upon a Automaton in a museum attic and worked day and night to fix it. His father worked himself late one night, which unfortunately was the fateful night the museum burned down. The automaton and his father were lost forever and Hugo was left in the care of his drunkard uncle. His uncle makes him an apprentice in the train station for up keeping the clocks. His uncle mysteriously is no where to be found soon after and Hugo is left an orphan. Hugo struggles to survive and is close to giving up but as he walks along the alleys he finds the broken remains of the Automaton. He is brought back to life and brings the machine to his secret residence. Hugo struggles to keep the clocks working to make it seem like his uncle has never left and he works on fixing the machine in hopes his father left him a message. A fortunate encounter brings together Hugo and Isabelle the daughter of the toy maker that Hugo frequently steals from for parts. Isabelle holds the key to helping Hugo with his automation which then transitions into part 2 which is like a memorial of the great George Melies. George Melies was a prolific filmmaker but due to the war he had to stop doing what he loved.  Hugo and Isabelle find out the mystery of the Automation and George Melies and during their adventure we are awed by their surprises and the illustrations of the author.

I am in love with this book, no doubt it is one of the best children's books I have read. From the beginning I was glued because of Hugo's unfortunate situation and for how excited I was to see what happened with the Automaton. What I love the most about this book is how much character development there is. We see Hugo develop from a boy that steals for survival to one that is awed by film and magic. He is a brilliant young boy and a great protagonist for children to follow and gain more creativity by following his ideals. The author does such a wonderful job of slowly unraveling the mystery and with his illustrations you feel like you are a part of the unveiling of them. Sometimes words cannot express what you are trying evoke in the reader and only pictures can do it. This books illustrations get us into the chases and the unraveling of mysteries and it is so exciting. The ending is absolutely magical and makes you feel like the thing you are holding is the most important book ever. I haven't smiled so much after I finished the book, and it really just brought the whole thing to life for me. This is a fine example of something that can only be done through books, and it was the best feeling ever. I also enjoyed that is was split into two parts because I felt like that was necessary to help guide student readers with the book so they understood what was supposed to be about the Automaton and what was about George Melies.

I would definitely have this book in my classroom. I think it fits well with around 4th graders because I think it would make them feel really special carrying something around this big and when they finish it they would feel even better even though it is really not that complicated. I would love to know how a student would react to the ending of this book cause I was just in absolute awe and I just held the book in a way that it felt so much more real to me afterwards. It was seriously the coolest ending I think I have ever read. The writing is simple enough for a 4th grader to follow but there is enough complexity to hold the attention of older audiences. I love that Hugo is such an inspired and creative character because students need to see more characters like that. Also, I loved the second part of the book because it was basically a history lesson on George Meles and how film has evolved but in a much simpler sense. Most children will have no idea what movies used to be like or famous people that made movies and giving them this knowledge could make them so much more well rounded and open so many more doors. When I was younger reading about things that I had no idea about was the best thing ever and made me want to explore more knowledge and I hope more students feel the same. The pictures that were shown form the movies would be wonderful for a student to see so they could compare and contrast the elements from film of today and back then. They could also talk about how great the props were for being so old and what they thought the films were about since they were all so magical. This book opens so many doors to fun, imaginative possibilities into the classroom while also teaching the lesson that you can be whatever you want as long as you try hard enough and never give up.