Winner of the 2008 Caldecott Award

Selznick, Brian. The Inventions of Hugo Cabret.

Hugo is left alone in this world with a job fixing all the clocks of the train station, and little notebook with a drawing left by his dad of a mechanical man that could write a message once it was fixed. His dad worked in a museum and after work, he would work on a little machine he found. He drew it on a notebook and would show Hugo his progress. One night, there was a terrible fire in the museum and Hugo's father was killed in it. Hugo went back to the museum and found the machine and took it with him. He was going to fix it. He was sent to live with his uncle who would spend most of his pay check fixing clocks in a train station drinking. One night, he just disappeared. A series of exciting events that lead to more events make this story so interesting that once you start it, you will not want to stop until you have finished it all. Hugo would steal parts for his machine from a toy store in the station until he gets caught. The old man that owns the store make him work for him and discovers the talent Hugo has. It turns out that Hugo does fix the machine and finds out that the man who built it was no other than the owner of the toy store. The combination of original drawings, pictures and text, make it seem like a movie from the old days. I enjoyed looking at the illustrations and reading every page of this book. It connects the main character and the reader. This book is suitable for children 8 years and older because of some content.

2008 Caldecott Winner