The Invention of Hugo Cabret has been on our bookshelf for two years. It was trendy, when Emily was in Third Grade, to own a copy of this mammoth book. Apparently, when you are 8 and 9 years old, your intelligence is viewed by others as directly proportional to the thicknesses of the books you carry. Thick books = smart kids. So, for a while, every kid at our school either carried around a Harry Potter book or they carried around Hugo. Emily never read it. She just carried it around. Evetually, though, both of my girls read it. It is a quick read, as much of the story is told through pictures, and both liked it. I added Hugo to my list of books to read this year, and it was pushed up recently when it won so many Oscars. Unfortunately, as seems to be a current trend, I watched the movie this weekend with my family and thought that the book would be lost for me, that there would be no point in reading the book once I had watched the movie. Boy was I wrong. The book reemphasized the amazing story told through the movie, and gave me another chance to hear and see the incredible story of Georges Melies, the filmmaker.
I think what I liked most about the book, compared to the movie which obviously is all pictures, is that the book uses pictures to tell parts of the story. What a great way to get kids interested in longer stories-- present them with pictures and let their minds imagine the words. Most of the pictures used are drawings, but some are real photographs and some are even shots from some of Melies' movies. The contrast between the pictures and the printed word was fascinating, and was, I am sure, partially responsible for why The Invention of Hugo Cabret won the 2008 Caldecott Award for Children's Literature. It was cleverly written and cleverly combined two artistic approaches to tell a story. I'm not quite sure what I expected when I first began to experience this story. I knew it had something to do with clocks and an invention, but had no idea that it would end up functioning as a tribute to one of the world's first movie makers. Again, the juxtaposition between real and make-believe makes this book (and movie ) a true one of a kind.
It took me a mere two hours to devour this 525 page book. It was a treat and an artistic pleasure. Find some time and endulge. And, if you want to read the book, my advice is (I can't believe that I am advocating this, but I am) see the movie first. Read the book second. It will be so much better that way.
Happy reading!
:) Dodie
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