Hugo Cabret was an orphan boy who's father was a clock maker. His father passed away in a museum fire. His father at time was working on a broken automaton. After the fire, Hugo manged to get it and a notebook his dad had on how to fix the automaton. He went under the care of his uncle who maintained the clocks at a train station in Paris. His uncle was a drunkard and disappeared. Since his uncle went missing, he decided to keep the clocks running at the station so that he will have a place to live. His life was dedicated to fix the automaton his dad had left. Hugo believed once he fixed it, it would give him a message from his dad. To fix the automaton, he would steal parts from a toy booth there at the station. One day, he got caught stealing a mouse toy from the booth. A man named Georges Melies caught him. As he makes Hugo empty out all his pockets, he takes his father's notebook from him. He asks for his notebook back, but George refused to give it to him. George gives him a second chance and asks him to work for him at the booth. There he meets his goddaughter named Isabelle. Hugo and Isabelle become friends. She also introduces him to one of her friends named Etienne. While working for George, Hugo was intrigued on his card tricks. They begin to have a good relationship. One day Isabelle decides to steal the notebook from her godfather. He automatically assumes it was Hugo who stole it and makes him leave the toy booth. While Hugo is leaving, he decides to hug Isabelle good-bye and snatches the key necklace she is wearing. It was the shape of the back of the automaton. She follows him as he runs away and demands her necklace back. As he puts the key on the automaton, it begins to draw a picture of a film his dad loved. The film was called A Trip to the Moon and signs the name Georges Melies on the paper. He starts to wonder how the key that Isabelle had is connected to the automaton. They go back to the apartment and confront Mama Jeanne. She tells them to go away, but they continue to snoop around and find some pictures. George was very ill with fever, so they decide to keep running the toy booth to get money for his medications, Hugo, still curious, goes to the library to do some research and there he sees Etienne again. Etienne was working under Monsieur Tabard. They helped him find some books and discovers that George is a famous Film Maker and that people think he is dead. Hugo invites Etienne and Monsieur Tabard to George's house without telling Mama Jeanne. Mama Jeanne asks them to leave because George had put that part of his life in the past. Finally, they get George to watch the films. After watching the films, George tells them about his past in the film industry. Hugo then goes to get the automaton from the station. There he hears about how they had found his uncle dead in a river. As he hears the news, he drops the milk he had in his hand. Madame Emile and Monsieur Frick yell that he is a thief. The station inspector chases him and catches him. Hugo tries to escape, but is not successful. George comes to his rescue and takes him to live with him. Six months later, they go to the French Film Academy, where they honor George Melies. While they were there, Isabella was taking pictures and Hugo was doing magic tricks. From that day, he became a famous magician named Professor Alcofrisbas.
The author used illustrations as a very important part of his storytelling. The story is both told by the words and pictures. The author uses imagery and symbolism to capture the readers attention. The theme of the story is that dreams can be achieved when you set your mind to it. You may use these interactive activities in your classroom to bring the book to life: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/activity/invention-hugo-cabret-flashlight-readers-activity.
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