Review: Selznick, B. (2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret; a novel in words and pictures.
Selznick, B. (2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret; a novel in words and pictures. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.
This imaginative and exceptional book was published in 2007 and adapted into a full-length film in 2011, winning numerous awards in both formats. Interestingly, The Invention of Hugo Cabret was the first novel to win the Caldecott Award, an honor which was created for picture books and is normally “awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American Picture Book for Children.” It is fitting in this case, however, because in spite of the middle grade audience, and length of 525 pages, it is noted for utilizing 284 wordless illustrations. Appearing at first glance to be quite a thick volume, it is actually a combination of prose, black-and-white pencil sketches, and pages containing artwork meant to function as short flip books, not unlike very early motion pictures. The author himself has described the format 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.”
A work of historical fiction set in 1930’s Paris, one of the novel’s central characters was the real Georges Méliès (pronounced mel-YEZ), a filmmaker in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who inspired Selznick with his “magical and strange” science fiction stylings. Méliès had a collection of automata--figures that are “made out of very complicated clockworks and can do amazing things like sing or dance or swing on a trapeze or write poems”--and one such fictionalized automaton factors heavily into the storyline here.
12 year-old Hugo Cabret is in possession of this “mechanical man,” the “center of Hugo’s life” (114), although it is no longer in working order. His father has left it to him after his untimely death, and now his contentious uncle has disappeared without explanation, leaving Hugo to live alone in hiding within the train station where he was brought to keep the clocks because of his innate mechanical aptitude. He must continue to keep the clocks running to avoid being discovered, despite the perilous nature of his job, or the fact that he is unkempt, cut off from education or society, and must steal in order to continue surviving. Additionally, he pilfers small parts as he can in “completely crazy” (132) hopes of repairing the automaton and receiving a written message from his father--until he is one day caught by an elderly shopkeeper, and loses his planning notebook as a result. The older man is clearly disturbed by the pictures of the automaton and its mechanisms in the book, and demands to know who drew them, though Hugo does not disclose that it was his father, a mystery revealed to the reader later in the story.
Desperation to retrieve the small book eventually leads Hugo to the man’s home, where he begins a friendship with a girl, Isabelle, who refers to her adoptive guardians as Papa Georges and Mama Jeanne--who are “very nice, except when it comes to the movies” (191) that they will not let her attend. His friendship with Isabelle leads him to stolen trips to a theater to see films, reminding him of the many times he’d gone to the movies with his father, with actual historical films being referenced and real images included. Meanwhile he goes to work at the toy booth, making repairs for Papa Georges in hopes of having his notebook returned, though this interferes with the upkeep of the clocks.
The novel contains several seemingly magical elements, from the little mechanical man, to the cryptic key in Isabelle’s possession, to the secrecy surrounding the true identity of Papa Georges and his motivations--and not the least, the magic of cinema, from the “wonderful whirring sound from the projector,” to the music, exciting characters, and amazing sequences, which leave the pair with “their eyes still shining from the flickering images” (203). In the end, even the novel itself is implied to have a mystical origination, completing the overall esoteric tone of the entire work. To say more would include spoilers, but it is safe to say that though the protagonist’s life begins in tatters, it comes to a much more agreeable arrangement by the conclusion.
The interwoven idea that we must all pursue our dreams no matter the obstacles in our path will not be lost on readers of different ages; similarly, there is a theme underscoring the importance of creativity and unbridled imagination when dreaming up these fantastic designs and goals. Though the intended audience is more middle grades, it is an enjoyable experience for older readers, and a pleasant ongoing read-aloud for younger children.
(n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2019, from https://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/about_hugo_intro.htm
Admin. (2017, January 12). The Randolph Caldecott Medal. Retrieved April 15, 2019,
from http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/aboutcaldecott/aboutcaldecott
Selznick, B. (2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret; a novel in words and pictures. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.
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