This is a kids' book that took me forever to get my hands on. It won the Caldecott and was nominated for the National Book Award but the B&N across the street just refused to have it in stock--and I wanted to see it before buying it because, although it looked interesting, it's a kids' book and those can be of little interest to me in a lot of cases. Anyway, I finally got it and read it in two sittings.
It's about a boy, Hugo Cabret, who lives in the walls of a Paris train station (not in the magical Harry Potter sense; in a literal through the heating vent way). He ends up in an adventure of sorts when he's caught stealing from a toy maker with a booth in the station. But not just any toy maker, a toy maker who creates automaton. Hugo happens to be fantastic with little gears and such because his father repaired watches and clocks and taught Hugo to do so as well. I can't say too much more about the plot because, while it's not overly simple, the twists are important and easily given away.
What is fun about the book is that it's about half images--a lot drawn by Selznick but some taken from old movies (movies from the very beginning of movies, ex. A Trip to the Moon)--that work with the text and George Melies (creator of A Trip to the Moon) is a character.
It is definitely a kids' book but I liked it a good bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment