Apr 29, 2008  2008 Caldecott medal winner, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, is a 550 page children’s novel in words and pictures. But unlike most novels, the images in this book don’t just illustrate the story; they help tell it. It’s very interesting the way it is put together and fun to read, as well.  The fun to read comment comes from an adult, my twelve-year-old had an entirely different opinion.

“Paris in the 1930’s, a thief, a broken machine, a strange girl, a mean old man, and the secrets that tie them all together… Welcome to The Invention of Hugo Cabret. “

In this book an orphan, clock keeper, and thief, named Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station. Don’t take the ‘thief’ part the wrong way. He mostly steals food. When the boy’s father died, his drunken uncle came to get him and took him out of school. He was briefly trained, then abandoned. His uncle taught him to take care of the clocks in the station. Hugo doesn’t want anyone to notice that his uncle is gone, because he’d get put in an orphanage. Hugo’s most prized possession is hidden in the wall of his dark little room. His dad had been trying to repair an automaton (robot) and hadn’t finished it before his death. Now Hugo wants to get it working and see what its hidden message is.

This book kept my twelve year old interested until about half way through. We made it to page 250 in one afternoon. After that, he left and I continued reading. The size of the book is pretty intimidating, until you open it and see that half the pages are pictures. There are sometimes ten pages of pictures in a row. Now, when I say he lost interest, keep in mind this was after two hours of reading. But then again, he never asked me to read the rest of it to him either.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret has been awarded the 2008 Caldecott medal.