Review: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Reviewed First Mate Keira

Title: The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Author: Brian Selznick
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 533 pages
Grade Reading Level: Grades 3-6

Summary: Hugo Cabret is an orphan and he lives inside the walls at a train station in Paris. His uncle had trained him to fix the station’s clocks before he disappeared. Now Hugo runs around doing his uncle’s job and steals when necessary for food and drink and sometimes from a toymaker for parts to a mysterious invention. If he could get it working perhaps he will find one last message from his deceased father.

Why I started this book:

I saw the movie (Eep! I know movie before book! Shame on me, but it happens.)

Likes:

In the book we see that Hugo steals because he can’t cash in his uncle’s checks. The movie sort of implies that the uncle has taken them without given Hugo any.
This book is full of illustrations done in a way to imply motion picture story tabling. This makes the book great for kids who don’t normally read big books. There are 284 pictures in the book's 533 pages. Plus they help tell the story! Cool!
The typography settings and page layouts sometimes fill the whole page, but there are a lot of pages with just a little amount of text on them. Another great reason kids who don’t read big books would like this one.

Dislikes:

Hugo does not invent the invention so the title is a bit of a misnomer. He fixes an automaton his late father found in a museum.

Book vs. Movie:

(Not all differences, but some that stood out)

In the book, Hugo and Isabelle are extremely antagonistic with each other and try very hard to get the other to reveal their secrets. The movie gives them more time to become friends, but also the script has them confiding into each other willingly for the most part.
In the book, Hugo and Isabelle have an adult friend sneak them into the movies. In the movie, Hugo insists on showing her a film (something she’s never seen before) and gets them into the theater by picking a lock. They are later caught and tossed out.
In the movie, Hugo persuades Isabelle to let him use her heart shaped key to start the automaton, but in the book, Hugo steals the key from Isabelle, which leads us back to the first bullet on this list.

Final Thoughts: I like the fleshed out story in the movie over the book. It appealed to me more.

Buy: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Rating: 2.5 Treasure Chests