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The Invention of Hugo Cabret

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 7, age appropriate for kids over 8; suggested age 8.

  • Is it any good?

    5.0
  • Common Sense says

    Spectacular book/film hybrid has lots of heart.

Themes in this book include:   family relationships, loss
updated 01.28.10

Why We Rated This on for Ages 8 and Up

The good stuff

  • Messages:

    A sometimes hard to read story that examines the life of an orphan, and his search for love and friendship.

What to watch out for

  • Role models:

    A child survives by stealing, and many adults are mean to him.
  • Violence:

    A boy's hand is crushed in a door.
  • Sex:

    Not an issue.
  • Language:

    Not an issue.
  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Drinking and drunkenness.

What Parents Need to Know

This review of The Invention of Hugo Cabret was written by Matt Berman

Parents need to know that the hero of this story has a sad life. Orphaned, alone, and homeless, he lives by stealing and scavenging, and no one is kind to him until late in the book.

Families Can Talk About

Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
  • Families can talk about some of the research-based themes the author includes.
  • How can an automaton be made to write poems and draw pictures? How do they work?
  • How were the earliest films made?
  • Many young readers will want to learn more about mechanical machines and automata, and about the history of film, especially the work of Georges Melies.
  • They may also want to see the films referred to in the story.
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More on The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Book Summary

When Hugo's father, a clockmaker, is killed in a fire, he's taken in by his uncle. They live together in a hidden room inside the walls of the Paris train station, where it's his job to maintain the station clocks -- until one night he disappears. Now Hugo is alone, still living inside the station walls, stealing to survive, and still maintaining the clocks so no one will know his uncle is gone.

Hugo also works on an automaton, a mechanical man, that his father was trying to restore. He steals parts from a toyshop in the station. When he is caught, the mean store owner takes away his father's notebook and threatens him with arrest. But the old man's hidden past and Hugo's are intertwined, and the secret message hidden in the automaton's workings is only the beginning. Includes Acknowledgments, Credits, and References.

Is It Any Good?

This book is like nothing you've ever seen before. When you or your child first pick it up, it looks like one of those fat fantasies that are so popular these days. When you open it, it even seems similar to a graphic novel. But lengthy sections of wordless illustrations (284 pages of drawings!) are interspersed with pages of more traditional novelistic prose. Neither text nor pictures can stand alone without the other.

Brian Selznick's brilliant hybrid is put in service of a complex and heartfelt story that involves a plucky orphan, the history of early cinema, the mechanics of clocks and other intricate machinery, and a little bit of magic. The whole is a work of great beauty and excitement, with breathless pacing ramped up even further by the wordless sections. Selznick has created an entirely new art form that succeeds as art, literature, and entertainment. Let's hope it's the first of a new genre.

Publisher’s Details

Publisher: Scholastic Inc., Publication date: 3/28/2007
Number of pages: 533, Price: $22.99 (hardcover)
Read Aloud: 8, Read Alone: 9

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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Teen Reviewer Age 14
    I rate this title on for age 7 and give it 5.0
    • My highlights are:
    • Educational
    • Positive messages
    • Good role models

    Perfect for little kids

    I loved this book! Its amazing with the pictures. Its very educational and awakes the dreamer within us all.

  2. Teen Reviewer Age 14
    I rate this title on for age 11 and give it 5.0

    Perfect for ALL ages

    OMG I absolutely ADORE this book. The story is so intriguing and keeps you wanting more. Also its a novel in pictures and words which help you get a feel for whats going on.

  3. I rate this title on for age 9 and give it 5.0
    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages

    best for the older kids

    This is the best book ever i've read it three times.

  4. Adult Reviewer
    Lives in Illinois
    I rate this title on for age 8 and give it 4.0
    • My highlights are:
    • Educational

    Imaginative graphic novel for tweens about early filmmaking

    Brian Selznick received the 2008 Caldecott award for this book, a picturebook award that usually goes to little kids' books. Finally the ALA recognized that powerful images are in books for older children, too. The book looks thick, but more than half of the pages are full-page illustrations. We read this book together and enjoyed the intrigue of the story and how we wanted to keep turning the page to see what happens next. Some of the story is tragic and sad. Kids may need the context of the difficulties of the 1930s. They will also be curious about real automatons and Georges Melies. Selznick includes website links and books to get more info on both. The story is really about the history of early films in France, but also about magic and magicians, the Depression, horology, mechanics, trains, libraries, and orphans. Fascinating! An imaginative 8-year-old may like it. 10 - 14 years old will definitely like it.

  5. Kid Reviewer Age 9
    I rate this title on for age 9 and give it 5.0

    exciting brilliant book

    ithought this book was really good and it has lots of pictures. in some parts it's a little scary because hugo falls onto the train track but then someone picks him up so the train won't hurt him. it's a exciting book but hugo isn't the best role model because he lives by himself and steals things.

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