Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick

We finished reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret and I do recommend it as a family read aloud.
It is about an orphan boy who lives in the walls of a Paris train station. He is trying to solve the mystery of a mechanical man that belonged to his dad.

The book was a new reading experience, combining elements of picture book, graphic novel and film.  The 284 pages of drawings help tell the story.  I felt like I was watching a silent film as I looked at the pictures, which I read that the author was trying to create that effect.

At the end of the book, there is a website to find out more about a mechanical man like the one in the book.  If you read the book, you do not want to miss this. It included a video of the mechanical man in action.

I googled the name of the book to find two great websites with lots of info and fun.


www.theinventionofhugocabret.com

www.scholastic.com/hugocabret/index.htm


The scholastic website has about 20 short videos by the author expounding on how he wrote the book, came up with ideas.  We watched them and recommend them if you read the book.  

4 comments:

5Gustos said...

We have not read this book yet. Thanks for the recommendation.

Cristy said...

I have requested the book from the library. Thank you for the suggestion! I'm excited to get it.

Cristy

MYstory of HIStory said...

Hi! Just poppin' in to send you Christmas Blessings & some e-snow (Here it is: *** :) ...It's snowing outside as I send it!

Not sure if you know what we've been dealing w/ at our end (you can pop over & get an idea) but I've been out of commission for a bit. Just wanted you to know I'm back. Hope you & your family are enjoying this special time leading up to the celebration of Christ's birth :)

Smith Schoolhouse said...

that is really cool. how do you find such a variety of books?