The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Reading Level 5        Interest Level 3 - Adulthood

The first book I'd like to review would be The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. I've had this book on my mind a lot lately because it will soon be a movie. The movie is scheduled to come out in theatres (yes, that is the correct spelling) November 23, 2011 with the title of Hugo. I first read this book a few years ago after it was released in 2007.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The first thing you notice when you pick up Selznick's book is it's large size. It made me envision reading the book for days, but upon opening it and noticing all the amazing drawings I knew it would not take as long as I previously imagined. I finished it in a day.

Once I started reading it and viewing the artwork inside I was hooked and didn't want to put it down. I found myself analyzing the pictures looking for hidden details. The book reminded me very much of watching a movie, which given some of it's subject matter makes a lot of sense.

The book is about a boy named Hugo. Hugo lives in a train station located in Paris, France. He's hidden away from the world within the wall s of the train station. He knows clocks, gears and mechanisms and makes use of this knowledge to fix a broken automaton, which he hopes holds a message from his dead father. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is an excellent mystery novel I hope many of you will check out before the movie at the end of November.