The Invention of Hugo Cabret by B. Selznick

Bibliography:
Selznick, B. THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET. Ill. by Brian Selznick. New York, NY: Scholastic Press. ISBN 0439813786

Plot Summary:
In this book, orphaned Hugo resides in a Paris train station where he maintains his lifestyle through stealth, mechanical ability, and thievery, but his safety is challenged when the elderly owner of the toyshop catches him stealing toys. Motivated by his own past that haunts him, the shop owner confiscates Hugo’s notebook, which belonged to Hugo’s deceased father. Desperate to regain the notebook Hugo agrees to work at the shop where he interacts with the owner, his granddaughter Isabelle, and her friend Etienne. The interaction between characters leads Hugo to resolve his secret and to uncover the shop owner’s long hidden secret.

Critical Analysis:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret confronts many emotional issues concerning the protagonist among them loss, fear, abandonment, hope, and acceptance. Even though the pioneers of cinema influenced the author, the novel explores the redemptive forces of companionship, friendship, and acceptance among his characters. The story is presented through Hugo’s point-of-view and the author relies on coincidences to connect the past of the characters while also presenting their histories through flashbacks.

Selznick’s integration of text and image make the book distinctive. The pages of the book are edged in black framing the text and images. The black and white illustrations, created with graphite pencil, show the strokes used to make the image. Many times the images are used to carry the story in place of text. The images reveal intimacy by showing close up images of the characters while also showing action by using strong diagonals and partial figures moving across several pages. Considering the author’s interest in the inception of cinema, this approach is appropriate because the illustrations become movie stills, which are integrated into the book. Melies’s movie stills and Selznick’s illustrations complement each other creating a cohesive unit.

Readers who are unaware of the beginning of cinema will gain new information, but the new knowledge is secondary to Hugo’s story told seamlessly through both text and image.

Awards:
Quill Awards 2007
Caldecott Award 2007
American Library Association Notable Books for Children 2008
Book Sense Book of the Year 2008

Review Excerpts:
School Library Journal: “With characteristic intelligence, exquisite images, and a breathtaking design, Selznick shatters conventions related to the art of bookmaking in this magical mystery set in 1930s Paris.”

Publishers Weekly: “Here is a true masterpiece-an artful blending of narrative, illustration and cinematic technique, for a story as tantalizing as it is touching.”

Booklist: “…bookmaking this ambitious demands and deserves attention, which it will surely receive from children attracted by a novel in which a complex narrative is equally advanced by things both read and seen.”

Connections:
-Since this book has basis in fact, discussions could revolve around the history of cinema, what changes have occurred since, and how cinema has changed entertainment
-Selznick provides resource for information about Georges Melies:
-http://www.missinglinkclassichorror.co.uk/index.htm
-Clee, P. Before Hollywood: From Shadow Play to the Silver Screen ISBN:
0618445331
-Since images tell much of the story, readers could create a flipbook, a shadow play, or reenact a scene from the book or a movie of their choice.