This book is long—2 inches thick. Its length derives from the over 100 illustrations created by the author, which interleave with the text in a complementary, not redundant, fashion. The book alternates between telling the story visually, with an almost silent-picture feel, and telling it in text (made all the more vivid by the preceding illustrations). The story itself immediately draws you in and combines a great young adult tale (or two!) with some fascinating history of the early filmmaking world. Clocks, magicians, automata, and the dreamland of film all combine to create a wonderful reading experience.

A mixed media giant – over 500 pages of drawings and photos and text that tell the story of an orphaned boy who hides in a Paris train station keeping the clocks running and stealing to stay alive. An intriguing tale which weaves in some real life history of film and machines. Excellent for children and adults.

What a delightful surprise this book was!

It’s bulky 533 page mass beckoned mysteriously the last time the kids and I were at the public library. The library had put it on display as a new book.

I flipped through it and was fascinated with the hundreds of pages of original artwork by the author, Brian Selznick. I showed it to Adelyn, our 8 year-old and asked, “Do you think you could read this?”

She looked at it, intrigued, but clearly doubtful.

Imagine her delight when a week later she was proudly posing for a picture to show that she’d read the book! A third grader who had polished off a 533-page book is quite an accomplishment, I would say – even if the book had hundreds of pages of pictures.

It’s a rewarding achievement and gift for a child to realize that they can tackle a book of that size. I saw in Adelyn that proud evening the dawning of a new day of book reading desire.

I picked up the book after she completed it and was quickly immersed in the story. Selznick has indeed earned his Caldecott Medal for this achievement. It’s not so much as a good read as it is a visual, epic feast.

The illustrations combine with the story to give you the sensation of watching an old movie. And indeed, that’s what much of the plot is about. As you read this fascinating tale, you’ll also learn some amazing history about early movies. Every movie referenced in this magical tale is real, and one of the main characters is also real.

I’d highly encourage anyone to sample this innovative medium. You won’t be disappointed.

Good. Interesting idea, laying out the words and the pictures in the way that they were, and the pictures were very nicely drawn (and the photos looked nice too, and their inclusion had the nice effect of providing a fantasy-like element, where the drawings seemed more real than the scenes taken from real life).
The story itself was fun – very good in the first half, but I found it slightly weakened toward the end. Still, very readable and fun. The only real change I’d suggest would be to bind the book so the very nice pictures wouldn’t be split down the middle – maybe something like a flip book, but that’s probably just not that practical.

ORPHAN, CLOCK KEEPER, AND THIEF, twelve-year-old Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric girl and her grandfather, Hugo’s undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo’s dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.