The Invention of Hugo Cabret: Amazon.ca: Brian Selznick: Books

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Publication Date: Mar 1 2007 | Series: Caldecott Medal Book

Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks — like the gears of the clocks he keeps — with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the train station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

With more than three hundred pages of original drawings, and combining elements of picture book, graphic novel, and film, Brian Selznick breaks open the novel form to create an entirely new reading experience. Here is a stunning, cinematic tour de force from a boldly innovative storyteller, artist, and bookmaker.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks — like the gears of the clocks he keeps — with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the train station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

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Book Description
Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

Amazon.ca Exclusive:
A Letter from Brian Selznick

Dear readers,

When I was a kid, two of my favourite books were by an amazing man named Remy Charlip. Fortunately and Thirteen fascinated me in part because, in both books, the very act of turning the pages plays a pivotal role in telling the story. Each turn reveals something new in a way that builds on the image on the previous page. Now that I’m an illustrator myself, I’ve often thought about this dramatic storytelling device and all of its creative possibilities.

My new book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is a 550 page novel in words and pictures. But unlike most novels, the images in my new book don't just illustrate the story; they help tell it. I've used the lessons I learned from Remy Charlip and other masters of the picture book to create something that is not a exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things.

I began thinking about this book ten years ago after seeing some of the magical films of Georges Méliès, the father of science-fiction movies. But it wasn’t until I read a book called Edison's Eve: The Quest for Mechanical Life by Gaby Woods that my story began to come into focus. I discovered that Méliès had a collection of mechanical, wind-up figures (called automata) that were donated to a museum, but which were later destroyed and thrown away. Instantly, I imagined a boy discovering these broken, rusty machines in the garbage, stealing one and attempting to fix it. At that moment, Hugo Cabret was born.

A few years ago, I had the honor of meeting Remy Charlip, and I'm proud to say that we've become friends. Last December he was asking me what I was working on, and as I was describing this book to him, I realized that Remy looks exactly like Georges Méliès. I excitedly asked him to pose as the character in my book, and fortunately, he said yes. So every time you see Méliès in The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the person you are really looking at is my dear friend Remy Charlip, who continues to inspire everyone who has the great pleasure of knowing him or seeing his work.

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.

Yours,
Brian Selznick

Amazon.ca Exclusive:

Brian Selznick on a "Deleted Scene" from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

This is a finished drawing that I had to cut from The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I was still rewriting the book when I had to begin the final art. There was originally a scene in the story where this character, Étienne, is working in a camera shop. On one of my research trips to Paris I spent an entire day visiting old camera shops and photographing cameras from the 1930's and earlier, as well as the facades of the shops themselves. I researched original French camera posters and made sure that the counter and the shelves were accurate to the time period. I did all the drawings in the book at 1/4 scale, so they were very small and I often had to use a magnifying glass to help me see what I was drawing. After I finished this drawing I continued to rewrite, and for various reasons I realized that I needed to move this scene from the camera shop to the French Film Academy, which meant that I had to cut this picture. I tried really hard to find ANOTHER moment when I could have Étienne in a camera shop, but, as painful as it was, I knew the picture had to go. I'm glad to see it up on the Amazon website because otherwise no one would have ever seen all those tiny cameras I researched and drew so carefully!
--Brian Selznick

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Here is a true masterpiece—an artful blending of narrative, illustration and cinematic technique, for a story as tantalizing as it is touching.Twelve-year-old orphan Hugo lives in the walls of a Paris train station at the turn of the 20th century, where he tends to the clocks and filches what he needs to survive. Hugo's recently deceased father, a clockmaker, worked in a museum where he discovered an automaton: a human-like figure seated at a desk, pen in hand, as if ready to deliver a message. After his father showed Hugo the robot, the boy became just as obsessed with getting the automaton to function as his father had been, and the man gave his son one of the notebooks he used to record the automaton's inner workings. The plot grows as intricate as the robot's gears and mechanisms [...] To Selznick's credit, the coincidences all feel carefully orchestrated; epiphany after epiphany occurs before the book comes to its sumptuous, glorious end. Selznick hints at the toymaker's hidden identity [...] through impressive use of meticulous charcoal drawings that grow or shrink against black backdrops, in pages-long sequences. They display the same item in increasingly tight focus or pan across scenes the way a camera might. The plot ultimately has much to do with the history of the movies, and Selznick's genius lies in his expert use of such a visual style to spotlight the role of this highly visual media. A standout achievement. Ages 9-12. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Page Turner Jun 5 2007

By Donald Mitchell #1 HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Fans of thrilling books are fond of calling them "page turners." Why? Because you can hardly wait to see what happens next. Those are the books that keep you up late at night to get to the end.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret delivers a whole new kind of pager turner, one where you not only want to see what happens next . . . but where the act of turning the page often gives you powerful glimpses into the story. How? Hand-drawn images tell a story in motion using many motion picture techniques (close-ups, fades, and pans). A sequence of images might go on for 40 pages (as the opening sequence does) before providing any dialogue. Unlike a graphic novel, there is no dialog or narration on the images. Since you don't know if the next turn of a page will reveal an image or text, you also have that extra dimension of surprise. The other difference from the traditional page turner is that this book won't take you that long to read. It's more like the duration of a motion picture than of reading a 525 page novel. So don't let the book's bulk intimidate you.

The story takes place in the early days of the Depression in Paris. Hugo Cabret is a 12-year-old boy who loses his parents and is taken in by his uncle, a timekeeper in a railway station. The uncle makes Hugo do all of the work, but won't even feed Hugo who has to turn to stealing in order to eat. When the uncle disappears, Hugo is left to fend for himself. But Hugo has a dream. He will repair an automaton (an early type of robot) that he rescued from a museum fire. Part of his thievery is aimed at taking parts from a tiny toy store in the station to help rebuild the automaton. One day Hugo is caught! That capture sets new wheels in motion that will change the lives of the key characters permanently.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret evolves like an unfolding mystery. Be cautious that you don't read reviews that reveal too many details. It would be very easy to spoil this story for you!

Although the publisher's indication is that this book will appeal to 9-12 year olds, I also think that younger children would enjoy having this book read to them, especially those who show a fondness for mechanical things. But most adults will find the book to be at least as interesting as the 9-12 year olds will. That's true both because the story is compelling and because of the novel story-telling methods.

The illustrations deserve special comment. These were produced after a lot of care to reflect the scenes of the time. I could recognize the sources of many images from various sources: photographs, paintings, museums, train stations, and motion pictures. Those images echoed in my memory to give the book an extra sense of authenticity, reality, and relevance. The drawings themselves continually reminded me of Seurat's early work while also capturing many of the better aspects of early comic book art.

The experience of reading the story is much like following a labyrinth in a haunted castle: It's always unclear where we are headed, but the trip itself seems quite rewarding. The black-and-white images nicely capture the mood of the characters and of the times as many noir films did in using lots of light and shadow. In fact, the images here could be story boards for a motion picture.

Be prepared for the magic!

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Play of Written and Visual Mar 4 2012

By Coreena TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

This was such a fun book to read, so rich with the perfect combination of text and drawings. My eight year old son and I took turns reading this one to each other and we both loved it, were enthralled with the story and had a hard time putting it down. There are pages of text, then pages of drawings, both of which cleverly move the story along. This book has everything: adventure, treachery, friendship, history, betrayal, imagination, and a message.

The characters are engaging, especially Hugo. I felt so bad for him and his impossible situation, his grasping at straws to find a connection with his father. Kids will be rooting for him, wanting him to overcome all of the unfair things in his life. He is clever and sharp, as well as innovative and passionate.

Isabelle is a good foil for Hugo, a young girl, also smart, but in a different way. The dynamic of their friendship seems real to me, from the way they get along to the way they fight.

George Melies is the old man and antagonist of the book,. Although he is mean to Hugo, he is shrouded in mystery, a mystery that the children are eager to solve.

The fictional story of Hugo intermingles with historical France of the 1930s and the history of film. This is done well, with the pictures as guides. I loved the mingling of the real history of the film and culture of France with the fictional story of Hugo.

The clockwork and automaton part of the plot will really appeal to the imagination and to those who are mechanically inclined or who like steampunk novels. This, combined with the illustrations, is so cool and vivid.

And then there is the ever true underlying message of the book - follow your dreams, this is the way to happiness and fulfillment.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a wonderful, magical book that instantly captures the imagination. Although it looks long and may be intimidating to kids, there are so many pictures, at least half the book (284 pages worth). These are beautiful and well drawn and definitely add to the excitement and drama of the book. This is more than an illustrated book, or a novel with illustrations. Pick it up and you'll see what I mean.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful! Jan 12 2012

By Jong Uk

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

It is such a great book. I like how there are many pictures, with great detail. It has that,"comfy" feeling, except for some parts. I would recommend it to anyone who likes pictures. It does not have too many words, though people may think that it would take days and days to read, because of the appearance of the book. (Don't judge the book by its cover!!!) But there are many pictures, and almost half of the book is pictures and pictures and pictures. The words are detailed, and they can give you the feeling of what it's like to be Hugo Cabret. (The pictures accompany that) It can be read in quite a short time, and it is a great book. It is hard to put the book down when you are on the end of one chapter. You keep reading on and on, until you come to the dramatic ending. I naturally prefer paperback books, but the pictures in this book to me are so, "precious" that a hardcover is a good idea. After all, it is a big book...

The Ghost Writer

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