Review #73: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Dad:  Today we are looking at one of my favorite books in the world.
Gracie (age 9):  The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
Dad:  It's by Brian Selznick.
Gracie:  No it's not -- It's by Professor H. Alcofrisbas.
Dad:  Well, that's what the introduction claims.  But according to the cover, it's by Brian Selznick.
Gracie:  Just the cover is written by Brian Selznick.
Isaac (age 11):  Brian Selznick is really creative.
Dad:  Before we discuss the story, tell us about the physical book itself...
Isaac:  I've never seen another book like this.
Lily (age 7):  It's, like.... big.
Isaac:  It's huge.  It's giant.
Gracie: (grabbing a ruler)  It's three inches thick.
Dad:  Thanks for measuring it for us.
Isaac:  Giant.  It's like a 500 page book.
Dad:  Should that scare readers away?  What if they think, "That book is honking huge!"
Gracie:  It's honking easy to read.  We read it in two days.
Lily:  It has tons of pictures.
Dad:  So how about the opposite concern...  If it has lots of pictures, might people think it's only for younger readers?
Gracie:  No.  It's a chapter book for pete's sake.  And big people like pictures too.
Dad:  So this is a book for everyone!
Gracie:  The pictures are very very very very very important to the story.
Lily:  They are black and white like in an old movie.
Isaac:  And the pictures are like a movie itself... the way the pictures zoom in and zoom out, and the angles they show.
Gracie:  The pictures help tell the story.
Isaac:  The words stop, and the author starts telling the story in pictures.  Then the pictures stop, and he starts doing it in words again.
Lily:  Sometimes when it got to an exciting part at the end of the page, we were like "Oo! Where is the picture!"
Dad:  You knew!  When things got exciting, you knew pictures were sure to come!
Lily:  This book is the opposite of boring.  It is wonderful, and glorious, and exciting, and adventurous!
Isaac:  It's a really good mystery book.
Lily:  And there was a big chase!
Gracie:  "Every good story has a chase."  That's what Hugo said.
Dad:  The mysteries that unfold throughout the story are part of the fun.  Can we talk about the story without giving away any surprises?
Gracie:  That's kind of hard to do.  But I guess we've done it before.
Dad:  So, tell us about the story...
Isaac:  It takes place in 1930.  I don't think it takes place in America.  Is it in Italy?
Lily:  Africa?
Dad:  No.  It takes place in France.
Isaac:  Oh.  I was close.  Italy and France are... alike.
Dad:  And tell us about Hugo...
Isaac:  Hugo is an orphan.  He lived with his uncle who fixed the clocks at a train station, and Hugo was his apprentice.
Gracie:  He fixes the clocks from inside the walls.
Lily:  And he lives in a wall.  That would be awesome.
Isaac:  Then Hugo's uncle disappears.  If the station master had found out, he would have taken Hugo and put him in the orphanage.  So Hugo keeps fixing the clocks himself so no one will know.
Gracie:  Everyone calls Hugo a thief.
Dad:  Why do they call him a thief?
Gracie:  Because he is one.  He steals everything.  Milk.  Croissants.  Cookies.  Toys.  Actually, I don't think he's evil -- he needs the food to survive.  And he just takes the toys so he can re-build an automaton because he thinks there is a secret message from his father that will save his life.
Lily:  An automaton is a robot that moves exactly like a human.  Hugo was trying to fix it.  He stole wind up toys so he could take them apart and fix the automaton with their little parts.  There was a pen in the automaton's hand, and Hugo thought it would write a message.  But the automaton actually made--
Isaac:  Don't tell!
Lily:  Awwwwwww....
Isaac:  That's one of the surprises.
Dad:  Who are some of the other characters.  Who does Hugo meet?
Lily:  A little girl named...  What's her name again?
Gracie:  Isabelle.
Lily:  She's beautiful.  Hugo stole a key from her.  So that's another thing he steals!  He's evil!
Dad:  And Isabelle is related to whom?
Lily:  That guy who works at the toy shop.
Dad:  There's a lot of mystery around that old man.
Gracie:  Papa Georges.
Isaac:  He makes little crank-up mice and toys.  He's really grumpy about stuff.
Gracie:  He goes crazy.  He freaks.
Lily:  He found this chest filled with papers.  And when he saw the papers he was like, "No No NO NOO!" and he started ripping them apart.
Gracie:  He freaked out and muttered things like, "I'm a broken thimble...  an unwound watch...  a knotted shoelace...  a bad shirt..."
Dad:  A bad shirt???
Gracie:  "...I'm an ugly baby..."
Dad:  Now you're making stuff up.
Gracie:  Ha ha ha!
Dad:  Did the book make you care about the characters?
Gracie:  I got sad when Hugo smashed his fingers.  And I got sad when Isabella smashed her foot.  And I got sad when the old man smashed his cabinet.  And I got sad when the automaton got smashed!
Isaac:  There's a lot of smashing in this book.
Dad:  The book had quite a few reoccurring motifs, didn't it.
Gracie:  What-the-cabbage is a motif?
Dad:  A motif is a story element that keeps reappearing.
Isaac:  You mean like: "Something caught his eye."
Dad:  No... that's just a writing tic the author probably wasn't aware he had.
Isaac:  The next time we read this book, we should count how many times he writes "Caught his eye."
Dad:  I never would have noticed that, but you guys sure did.
Isaac:  I didn't notice until Gracie mentioned it, then I kept hearing it over and over.
Dad:  But a motif is like a repeating theme or symbol.  Let's go around and see how many reoccurring themes from the book we can name.  If you get stumped you're out.  I'll start:  Trains.
Gracie:  Clocks.
Isaac:  Stealing.
Lily:  Ummmm...
Gracie:  She's out.
Lily:  I'm just thinking!
Isaac:  Fixing broken things.
Gracie:  Gears and machines.
Lily:  Has anyone mentioned clocks yet?
Gracie:  Yes.
Lily:  The moon.
Dad: Greek myths.
Lily:  Eyes.
Gracie:  Movies.  Old movies.
Dad:  Good list!  Now one last thing before we wrap up...  Speaking of old movies, the ones mentioned in this book are actual movies from film history.
Lily:  Like the guy hanging from the clock.
Dad:  Yeah, Harold Lloyd!  We later watched him on YouTube.  What did you guys think of Harold Lloyd?
Isaac:  Funny!
Lily:  He climbed up a building like boop, boop, boop, then he fell and hanged on a clock!
Isaac:  We watched another movie on the internet from the book too.  We saw "Trip to the Moon."
Dad:  The man in the moon gets a rocket in his eye... it's a pretty famous old movie.
Isaac:  We even found movies about automatons on the internet.  They are actually really cool.
Gracie:  The internet rocks.

trip to the moon, by Lily

Hugo and Isabelle, by Gracie


And lastly, Isaac built a cool automaton out of legos!  Although not able to move on its own, all the joints (neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, knuckles) do indeed twist and swivel and bend just like human joints.  It's rather lifelike and eerie the way it moves!

Author/Illustrator: Brian Selznick
Published, 2007: Scholastic
Like it? Find it

Review #72: Hugo and the Really, Really, Really Long String

Dad:  Today we are taking a look at "Hugo and the Really, Really, Really Long String" by Bob Boyle.
Isaac (age 11):  Okay -- there is one thing we cannot say.  We cannot tell anyone what the extremely awesome, super cool, awesomeness surprise is at the end of the string.
Gracie (age 9):  It's funny.
Isaac:  It's so awesome at the end.
Dad:  When you saw this book, did you immediately know who made the pictures?
Lily (age 7):  YES.
Gracie: (singing)  Wow Wow Wubbzy, Wubbzy Wubbzy, Wow Wow!
Isaac:  Bob Boyle made all the characters up for the show "Wow Wow Wubbzy."
Dad:  How would you describe his style?  You can tell immediately that Hugo and Wubbzy come from the same guy.
Isaac:  It's the exact same style.
Gracie: (singing)  Go Go Hugo, Hugo Hugo, Woo Woo.
Dad:  But how would you describe that style?
Gracie:  He barely makes any circles.  There are always square faces.
Isaac:  But there is not one sharp edge.  All the squares are ovally.  It is all round and swerved.  There are no sharp corners.
Gracie:  And he has wiggly lines.  He draws wiggly.
Lily:  He draws cartoony.  It looks like video games.
Isaac:  It really looks like a computer game, or a book that teaches you how to get through the levels of a video game.
Dad:  So, tell us what the story is about...
Isaac:  There is this guy named Hugo who looks like a purple... hippo.  Or is it a cow?
Gracie:  We especially like hippos when they are purple.
Isaac:  Hugo finds this mysterious, awesome, cool string.  So he follows this string thinking there is treasure or something amazing at the end.  He is following, and following, and he meets lots of people like an alligator policeman.
Lily:  And he meets a noodle person.
Isaac:  The noodle man who gives all the otters noodles.
Gracie:  No.  Bunnies.  He gives the bunnies noodles.
Isaac:  Otters must get french fries.
Gracie:  He stirs his noodles with an oar.
Dad:  Because the pot is so big...
Isaac:  He must be the famous bunny noodle man.
Gracie:  Hugo also meets a fish snake.
Isaac:  It's a snake that looks like a sea serpent.
Gracie:  She looks like a fish.
Isaac:  She does.  It's actually just her hair-do that makes her head look like a fish.
Gracie:  She would be a fish if you cut off her body.
Isaac:  There's a whole bunch of different people that Hugo meets.
Gracie:  Why is that mole taking a bath underground?  In the dirt?
Isaac:  That is a good question.
Dad:  Regardless of what he finds at the end of the string, what does he meet along the way?
Lily:  Friends.
Gracie:  And a fish.
Dad:  It's a snake.
Isaac:  Who is your favorite character?
Lily:  I like the Noodle Bunny.
Isaac:  I like the Mr. Alligator Police Officer Dude Man.
Lily:  I also like the Fish Girl.
Dad:  It's a snake.
Gracie:  I like the surprise at the end.
Dad:  Did you have any guesses of what was going to be at the end?
Lily:  At first I thought it would be a ribbon that says "Hugo" and a heart.
Dad:  You mean like a present for him?
Isaac:  I just thought it was going to be a ball of yarn.
Gracie:  I thought it was going to be this really big thing.  But actually we were all so surprised.  And it was so funny.
Isaac:  Everyone reading this review will be really curious about what the surprise is and will go get the book.
Gracie:  Red strings and purple hippos.  Even just that would make me excited to read it.

some really long string, by Gracie

this blue string leads to a piñata!  by Isaac

Hugo tangled in his really long shoelaces, by Lily

Author/Illustrator: Bob Boyle
Published, 2010: Random House
Like it?  Find it

Review #71: The Cobble Street Cousins

A special treat this week!  For a year and a half we've reviewed books that we read together as a family.  But the kids are all voracious readers on their own as well.  So I thought I'd chat with them one-on-one to find out about the books they are reading for their own pleasure.  These are books I personally know nothing about, so I'm learning too!  Here's the schedule for the week:

Monday:  Isaac with the "Percy Jackson" series
Yesterday:  Gracie with the "Just Grace" series
Today:  Lily with the "Cobble Street Cousins" series

So let's hear from Lily...


Dad:  Alright, we need to find out what Lily is reading right now.
Lily (age 7):  I'm reading The Cobble Street Cousins.
Dad:  Who are the Cobble Street cousins?
Lily:  There is one girl named Lily.
Dad:  Just like you?
Lily:  Yes!
Dad:  Oh my lands.  Gracie reviewed a series about a girl named Grace, and you are reviewing a series with a girl named Lily!
Lily:  Hee hee hee!
Dad:  Who are the other cousins?
Lily:  There's Rose and Tess.
Dad:  And what do they do?
Lily:  The cousins make a whole bunch of stuff.  They make cookies.  They sell cookies.  And they make a dollhouse out of cardboard and scraps.  They have to get the little teeny furniture.  And they make little paper dolls of the people in their family.
Dad:  Wow, that sounds like the kind of stuff you guys like to do!
Lily:  Yeah.  But we don't sell cookies.
Dad:  Right.  But you guys like making stuff.  Don't the cousins also make a newspaper?
Lily:  Uhhhhh...
Dad:  Maybe that's in a book you haven't gotten to yet.  I think I remember that from when Gracie read the series.
Lily:  I'm still on book number two.
Dad:  They sound like creative, crafty kids.
Lily:  They live at their aunt's house.  In the attic.  And they put up blankets like forts for their rooms in the attic.  It's cool.
Dad:  And I know you are learning some big words.  What word did you ask me about the other day?  "Botanist"?
Lily:  You said it was a plant guy that studies plants.
Dad:  And now you know a big word.
Lily:  Botanist.
Dad:  Do you like reading books that help you learn new words, or would you rather read books where you already know all the words.
Lily:  I just like reading books.  Any books.  I just read books that seem interesting.
Dad:  And what is one reason you like these "Cobble Street Cousin" books?
Lily:  They give you all these different ideas of stuff to do.  Like, if you are old enough to sell cookies, you could do that.  And they have little adventures.  Realistic ones.
Dad:  So it's not like the cousins are flying to the moon.  They are adventures that you could even have.
Lily:  Yeah, selling cookies or making dollhouses.  And catching birds.
Dad:  Woah, they catch birds?
Lily:  This old lady had a parrot that flew away, so they had to catch him!  And Rose said, "He's on the turkey!"
Dad:  On the turkey?
Lily:  I mean, "He's on the chicken!"
Dad:  A parrot was sitting on top of a chicken?
Lily:  You know those little chickens that tell "north"...
Dad:  Ahhhh... a weather vane?
Lily:  Yeah.
Dad:  Thanks for telling me about these stories Lily!  It makes me want to read them.
Lily:  Yeah.
Dad:  We should tell people that these are written by Cynthia Rylant.
Lily:  Do you know her?
Dad:  No, I've never met her, but I know about her.  We have lots and lots of her picture books.  "The Cobble Street Cousins" books are chapter books, but they do have pictures too.  How would you describe the pictures?
Lily:  Like... old timey.  And realisticyness.
Dad:  Realistic-y?
Lily:  Ness.
Dad:  Realistic-y-ness?
Lily:  Because they are realisticynesses.
Dad:  Realistic-y-ness-es?  Oh my lands, this word is getting longer and longer!
Lily:  Hee hee hee ha ha hahh!
Dad:  The pictures are by Wendy Anderson Halperin.
Lily:  I love her drawings.  They are cool.
Dad:  Now, I did meet her once.
Lily:  Aaaaaaaah!  I'm flabbergasted.
Dad:  Did you see what she wrote in this one?  "To Lily..."
Lily: (Gasp!)
Dad:  Oh, you haven't gotten to that book in the series yet!  You didn't know?
Lily:  What?
Dad:  You girls each have one signed to you.
Lily:  I have a new favorite book!  It is signed "To Lily."

Lily, Tess, and Rosie, by Lily

Author: Cynthia Rylant
Illustrator: Wendy Anderson Halperin
Book 1: "In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen" published, 2000: Aladdin
Like it?  Find it