Hugo thought about his father's description of the automaton. "Did you ever notice that all machines are made for some reason?" he asked Isabelle. "They are built to make you laugh, like the mouse here, or to tell the time, like clocks, or to fill you with wonder, like the automaton. Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do."

Isabelle picked up the mouse, wound it again, and set it down.

"Maybe it's the same with people," Hugo continued. "If you lose your purpose... it's like you're broken."

Historic fact and vivid fantasy meld magically in Brian Selznick’s innovative and entrancing book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  Set in a Paris train station in 1931,  renowned artist Selznick (Frindle, When Marian Sang) uses detailed pencil drawings to pick up where the text leaves off and propel forward the story of a young orphan with a gift for intricate mechanical work.  Hugo’s father, a clockmaker, was restoring an automaton—an elaborate mechanical toy—when he died.  Young Hugo spends his days tending to the many clocks in the train station from a maze of interior passageways, and dreams of restoring the automaton in hopes it will contain a message from his father.  When Hugo is caught stealing wind-up toys from the toy seller in the train station to secure the parts he needs for the automaton, he begins to form friendships with both the bitter old man and his goddaughter, Isabelle.  As the story unfolds, Hugo and Isabelle unravel a mystery more complex than the most complicated clockworks and discover the risks and rewards of trusting others with their most prized secrets.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret dazzles the eyes, mind, and heart, and its timelessness, ingenuity, and beauty assure its place among the finest classics of children’s literature.  To read or listen to an interview with Brian Selznick at NPR, click here.