The Invention of Hugo Cabret, written and illustrated by Brian Selznick, is the winner of the 2008 Caldecott Medal. In this story, Hugo Cabret is an orphaned boy, who lives in the Paris train station where his uncle was the official Timekeeper until disappearing months earlier. Alone and afraid of being discovered by the Station Inspector, Hugo keeps the train station's clocks running in perfect harmony. In his free time, he steals mechanical parts from the station's toy booth so that he can repair a mysterious mechanical man, called an automaton. Hugo is sure that the automaton, once fixed, will relay a hidden message to him from his late father.
When I first picked up this book to read, I was thoroughly surprised! I guess I have always considered Caldecott books to be picture books with simple texts, like the ones housed in the "Everyone" section of my library. In contrast, this book is a 5oo+ page chapter book, filled with black-and-white illustrations and upper-elementary text. The illustrations in this book are truly unique looking. They are roughly sketched out and made to look like a movie storyboard, so that as the reader is flipping pages it resembles viewing an old-fashioned still movie where the action is portrayed in a series of well thought-out photos. Interestingly enough, the illustrations in this book play an important part in the telling of the story. In fact, the reader really must pay attention to the illustrations, or else some of the meaning will be completely missed.
When I first picked up this book to read, I was thoroughly surprised! I guess I have always considered Caldecott books to be picture books with simple texts, like the ones housed in the "Everyone" section of my library. In contrast, this book is a 5oo+ page chapter book, filled with black-and-white illustrations and upper-elementary text. The illustrations in this book are truly unique looking. They are roughly sketched out and made to look like a movie storyboard, so that as the reader is flipping pages it resembles viewing an old-fashioned still movie where the action is portrayed in a series of well thought-out photos. Interestingly enough, the illustrations in this book play an important part in the telling of the story. In fact, the reader really must pay attention to the illustrations, or else some of the meaning will be completely missed.
References:
Selznick, B. (2007). The Invention of Hugo Cabret. New York: Scholastic, Inc.
Barnes & Noble. (2008). The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Retrieved on February 9, 2008, from http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780439813785&itm=1
No comments:
Post a Comment