Hugo Cabret

I'm currently enrolled in a course about library materials for children, and I just picked up "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznik. My first thought was, "Crap. This is huge." (I am a mama of two in addition to being a full-time library employee and a part-time student, so my reading time is limited and usually done when I probably should be sleeping.) Then I opened the book, and my second thought was, "This is amazing."

This book is a hybrid of sorts, part graphic novel, part traditional novel, part flip book, part picture book. It is somehow all and none of these things. The detailed pencil drawings propel the story forward and show action that is not described in the text. Some of the pictures closely mimic flickering black and white images as they might appear on a movie screen. The main character is an orphan. (Naturally - aren't most stories for children about orphans? "James and the Giant Peach," "Harry Potter," "The Boxcar Children," etc. What's up with that? The subject for another post, I guess.) He lives in secret behind the walls of a Paris train station. The year is 1931. He is the son of a clock maker, and he is desperate to repair the mechanical man his father was working to restore at the time of his death.

I highly recommend this Caldecott Medal winner, not just for children, but for adult readers as well. Ask for it at your local library! (*wink*) Read more about Hugo Cabret here: http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/index.htm