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For this week’s Caldecott book, I reread The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which I first read years ago when I was volunteering with my former fifth grade teacher to help with her current class. They were reading the book aloud, and they saved the last chapter especially so I could read it to them.
So I have a certain sentimental attachment to this book, but even without that, it’s really good and also innovative in the way that it weaves together words and pictures. It’s a very thick book, and looks intimidating, but in fact at least half of those pages are pictures - not just illustrations (I mean no disrespect to illustrations), but pictures that carry the narrative in themselves, intercut with sections of regular prose. It’s a different twist on the idea of a graphic novel.
I also really like the art style: black and white sketches, very classy. They suit the subject matter, too: young Hugo lives in a train station in interwar Paris, and becomes embroiled in a mystery that forces him to research the history of early movies and the work of Georges Melies. This is 100% one of those children’s book that is designed to spark an interest in the great cultural touchstones of the past, which is actually something I always enjoy if it’s done well.
Steven Spielberg did a movie version of this book, Hugo, which I thought did not do this very well. The film is too long, and the part about early film especially is too long, and the whole thing feels bloated - which is really too bad, because what better medium to showcase early film than film itself?
***
I must confess I am running out of steam on the Caldecott project, but I am soooo close to done that I might as well finish it. I’ve quite enjoyed many of the books that I’ve read for it, so I’m not sure why I’m tired of it; I think perhaps doing one book a week was a mistake. It’s stretched the project out for going on two years now.
So I have a certain sentimental attachment to this book, but even without that, it’s really good and also innovative in the way that it weaves together words and pictures. It’s a very thick book, and looks intimidating, but in fact at least half of those pages are pictures - not just illustrations (I mean no disrespect to illustrations), but pictures that carry the narrative in themselves, intercut with sections of regular prose. It’s a different twist on the idea of a graphic novel.
I also really like the art style: black and white sketches, very classy. They suit the subject matter, too: young Hugo lives in a train station in interwar Paris, and becomes embroiled in a mystery that forces him to research the history of early movies and the work of Georges Melies. This is 100% one of those children’s book that is designed to spark an interest in the great cultural touchstones of the past, which is actually something I always enjoy if it’s done well.
Steven Spielberg did a movie version of this book, Hugo, which I thought did not do this very well. The film is too long, and the part about early film especially is too long, and the whole thing feels bloated - which is really too bad, because what better medium to showcase early film than film itself?
***
I must confess I am running out of steam on the Caldecott project, but I am soooo close to done that I might as well finish it. I’ve quite enjoyed many of the books that I’ve read for it, so I’m not sure why I’m tired of it; I think perhaps doing one book a week was a mistake. It’s stretched the project out for going on two years now.
