The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Infobox Book |
name = The Invention of Hugo Cabret
author = Brian Selznick
cover_artist = Brian Selznick
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Children's Mystery Graphic novel
publisher = Scholastic Press
release_date = January 2007
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = 533 pgs.
WAYRBA award = 2008
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Invention of Hugo Cabret" is a historical-fiction book written and illustrated by Brian Selznick and published by Scholastic Press. The hardcover edition was released on January 30 2007, and the paperback edition was released on June 2 2008. With 300 pictures between the book's 533 pages, the book depends equally on its pictures as it does the actual words. Selznick himself has described the book as "not 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." [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0439813786] The book won the 2008 Caldecott Medal, the first considered novel to do so, as the Caldecott Medal is for illustrations.

Plot

The story is set in Paris, in 1931, and begins in a Parisian train station. Hugo Cabret is a twelve-year-old boy who lives behind the walls of the station maintaining its clocks. Hugo spies on an old man who works at a toy booth through openings in a clock from the inside of the vents. The old man and a young girl are arguing, and when the old man is distracted Hugo comes out and attempts to steal from the old man's stand. However, he is caught by the old man. The toy stand owner calls for the Station Inspector, whom Hugo panics at the mention of, to arrest the young boy. He orders Hugo to empty his pockets, which he does, pulling out toys and toy parts that belong to the stand. Hugo eventually pulls out a small, battered cardboard notebook, and the man flips the pages. Here, we see pictures of what looks to be a mechanical man writing on a piece of paper on a table. At first the old man is astonished to see such pictures, and then his anger builds up when he asks Hugo about this book. When Hugo refuses answers and to leave without his notebook, the old man threatens to burn the book. Hugo runs off in sadness down the station halls that he does not have his notebook.

Following Hugo entering the vent again, he goes down the series of tunnels which leads to a cluster of secret apartments, which are all abandoned except for the one in use, his. In his room, he grabs matches and candles and sets off to his job as the one in the train station who keeps the clocks running, oiling the machinery and making sure the gears and levers moved accurately. Apparently, as it says at the end of the second chapter, page number 80 - "... Hugo kept going, until all twenty-seven clocks in the station had been attended to, just the way his uncle has taught him." - his uncle had assigned Hugo as his apprentice in keeping the clocks going.

After work, Hugo approached the old man's toy booth as he was closing up shop. The old man, irritated at Hugo's presence, asks him his name, which he hesitantly answers. After Hugo demands his notebook back, the old man tells him that he is going to, in fact, burn it. When the old man leaves the station, Hugo follows his footsteps, and they eventually arrive at his apartment building. He slams the door on Hugo, leaving him out in the cold, winter night. Hugo throws a stone at one of the windows, only to be answered to by the revealing of the girl he saw at the toy booth earlier looking out the window back at him. When she runs down to meet Hugo, he tells her that her grandfather stole his notebook. The girl explains to him that the old man, Papa Georges, wasn't her grandfather and is not a thief. Hugo orders her to let him inside, which the girl refuses, but Hugo tells her that he won't go without his notebook, which he won't tell the girl about. Even though she doesn't let Hugo in the building, she does tell him that Papa Georges won't burn his notebook and that he should go back to the toy booth the following day and ask him for the notebook again. Realizing he had no choice, Hugo agreed and ran off.

The old man later gives Hugo a choice: Hugo can work at the toy booth to repay the old man for the stolen items, but the old man may or may not give the notebook back. Hugo ends up working at the toy booth and notices the old man playing cards. But, the old man is not just playing cards; he is doing magical things with them, like making one float! Hugo becomes fascinated with it and goes to the station's bookstore that Isabelle, the girl from Papa Georges home, is always in. Here, he sees Isabelle's friend, Etienne. Hugo plans to just take a magic book that he finds, but Etienne stops him and asks what he has. Hugo tells him, and Etienne gives him money to buy the book. Hugo starts learning the tricks within the book, and becomes an expert at them. At the same time, he is slowly repairing the mechanical man without his notebook.

Once Hugo has it completely finished, he just needs a heart-shaped key, which is exactly what Isabelle wears around her neck. The old man gets very angry at Hugo one day when Isabelle is at the booth, too. He gives Isabelle a hug and runs off to his room in the station, but at the same time, escapes with the key from Isabelle's necklace. Isabelle realizes what he has done, and follows him home. They get into a quarrel, and Isabelle ends up inserting the key into the mechanical man. The man produces a picture of a moon with a face and a rocket going into its eye. The picture was exactly what Hugo's late father had described to him as his favorite movie. The mechanical man then signs the picture as Papa Georges! Isabelle and Hugo are completely baffled, and run home to Papa George's apartment.

Isabelle doesn't want Hugo there, so she slams his fingers in the door. He screams, and Mama Jeanne, Papa Georges's wife, hears. So, Isabelle has no choice but to let Hugo come up with her. Mama Jeanne immediately recognizes him as the thief who stole from Georges booth. Jeanne tells them that Papa Georges is coming home very soon, and she doesn't want him to know that Hugo is there, so she tells them to go into the bedroom. Once she is in there with them, Hugo wants to show her the picture, but Isabelle does not. Hugo ends up showing Mama Jeanne, and she is petrified by it. Isabelle and Hugo both catch her glancing at the wardrobe in the bedroom, and then Mama Jeanne leaves the room. As soon as she does, they try to break into it to see if there is a clue about the picture. Hugo spots a place in the wardrobe that doesn't look the same, so Isabelle stands on a chair to bust it open. She succeeds, and inside finds a box. She grasps the box, but on her way down falls and hurts her foot. The box falls open and hundreds of papers fly out, each one with a beautiful drawing on it. They are all by Papa Georges. Mama Jeanne hears, but by this time Papa Georges is home, so they both come bursting in.

Mama Jeanne is once again petrified by the drawings, and very upset with the children, and Papa Georges has a nervous breakdown. He starts crying and mumbling nonsense. He rips up his drawings and the kids try to stop him. Mama Jeanne feels terrible, so lays him down in bed until he is asleep. The doctor comes later on and says Papa Georges has a fever and is very sick. Mama Jeanne refuses to tell the children about the drawings. So, Hugo leaves and returns to the train station. Hugo decides to go to the bookstore to find out more about the movie with the man in the moon (the one his dad described to him and the mechanical man drew). He finds nothing there. So, he leaves and goes down to the Paris Film Academy to use their library. The secretary won't let him in because of how grubby he is. But, Hugo is once again helped out by Etienne, who gets him in and helps him find the book he is looking for. Hugo discovers that Papa Georges was an famous movie-maker who made the movie with the man in the moon. But, the book says that Papa Georges died in the war. Etienne tells Hugo that his teacher wrote the book only a year ago. Hugo lets Isabelle know after he finds out, and also lets her know that he has arranged a meeting with Etienne and his teacher to come and see if Isabelle's home is truly the home of Papa Georges.

While Hugo is stealing some milk from a shop in the station, he overhears two people saying that his uncle, who never returned after a night out, was pronounced dead. His body was found at the bottom of a river, and was only identified by his name on the bottom of a liquor flask. Hugo accidentally drops his bottle of milk, and the shopkeeper catches him in the act. He runs off, making a narrow escape. He then goes off to the meeting at Isabelle's house, where Etienne's teacher has brought the movie with the man in the moon along with a projector. Hugo and Isabelle beg Mama Jeanne to let them watch it, even though it might disturb Papa Georges's sleep. Mama Jeanne finally agrees, and Hugo is awed by the movie. But, Papa Georges does hear the movie, and comes out. Mama Jeanne is terrified that he will have another breakdown, but he realizes how good his movies and drawings were, and locks himself in his room, leaving them wondering what he was doing. They heard all kinds of clunking noises and such, with periods of quiet in between. They got incredibly scared at what he was doing in there, so they figured out how to open the locked door. They go inside to find all the drawings hung up on the wall with a move projector set up, too. Papa Georges tells Hugo that he built the mechanical man very long ago, because he was a magician. Then, he became a movie-maker with Isabelle's parents, but they died in a car crash. He then stopped making movies because he was so distraught. Papa Georges then asks Hugo to go and retrieve the mechanical man, which Hugo immediately agrees to. Hugo leaves, and almost has the mechanical man at the door, when he hears a knock. The Station Inspector and the two people from the shop Hugo stole the milk from burst in. Hugo tries to escape, but the Station Inspector catches him and puts him in a cell in his office. The Inspector leaves to get the police. They return, and open the cell to get Hugo, but Hugo runs for it. Hugo ends up running straight onto the train tracks. He then realizes that a train is pulling in at that same moment. He is so terrified that he becomes unable to move, but a hand out of the crowd pulls him up just in time. Hugo falls unconscious, and wakes up in the office of the Station Inspector, but this time lying with his head in Papa Georges lap. Isabelle is there, too. Hugo asks how they knew he was there, and Isabelle said she knew it was taking him too long. Papa Georges takes Hugo home and decides to take him in for good.

Hugo becomes part of the family and becomes Papa Georges's apprentice in magic. At the end, the family of four leaves to go to a tribute to Papa Georges's work in the film industry. Many people recovered Papa Georges's old movies so they could watch and enjoy them once again. They end up watching many of those movies that night.

Awards

* "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" is a Junior Library Guild Selection. [cite web | title=Horizon Infrmation Portal - The Invention of Hugo Cabret | last= | first= | work=Hawaii Public Library System | url=http://ipac.librarieshawaii.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=11874E0283Y9R.125330&profile=def&uri=link=3100007~!1633881~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=subtab13&menu=search&ri=1&source=~!horizon&term=The+invention+of+Hugo+Cabret+%3A+a+novel+in+words+and+pictures+%2F&index=ALLTITL
date= | accessdate=2007-08-17 ]
* "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" won the 2008 Caldecott Medal. [The Association for Library Service to Children. [http://www.ala.org/ALSCTemplate.cfm?Section=ALSC] ]
* "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" was a 2007 National Book Award Finalist, Young People's Literature. [National Book Foundation. [http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2007_ypl_selznick.html] ]

Movie Adaptation

Warner Bros. has picked up the screen rights to the book. Chris Wedge will direct the film for Warner Bros. and Johnny Depp's production house Infinitum Nihil. Production is expected to begin in the fall. [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117985121.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 Chris Wedge to direct 'Hugo Cabret' - 'Ice Age' director adapting kid's novel for WB ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/index.htm Official Site]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970179/ IMDb Movie Page]
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0439813786 www.amazon.com]