The Invention of Hugo Cabret | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Review

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The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Written by Brian Selznick

Published March 2007 by Scholastic Press

#Middlegrade, #Images, #CinemaHistory, #HistoricalFiction, #SetinFrance

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I bought this book for myself for Christmas and read it in one night.  It helps that a majority of the pages in the novel are covered in pictures rather than words but really they are filled with such detail that I probably looked at them just as long as I spent time reading a page covered in words.

I think that the best way to introduce this novel to people is by telling you about the idea that this book was based upon.  The author came across some material talking about the automatons created by a particular artistic black and white film director from the dawn of film.  He imagined what it would be like if a young boy had found one of these wondrous machines and that is where this story was born.

I love the fact that Selznick draws out for us so many scenes.  They are scenes that could easily be described or left to the reader to imagine, but having the author's imagery right there to see was interesting.  I can appreciate the amount of time that went into this novel not just in writing and editing but also drawing and shading all of those images in such detail.

The story was very cute and well paced.  There was a good amount of sass from the main character and while most of the other characters were only there for brief periods of time they all had a distinct personality and aura.  I loved every character in this novel.  I liked how it ended and I appreciated how while the story itself was fictitious it was inspired by true events.

My brother has taken it to read for a school project later in the month but I hope to get it back so it can take a proud space within my shelves.  I also saw the film and think that it was a perfect adaptation of this story.  I think that it at least matched the novel if it didn't surpass it.  Being able to watch recreations of those black and white films was definitely cool.

All in all I think this is a really great story for people of all ages, it is a quick read if nothing else just give it a chance.