The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret made me reconsider what a book can be. A novel told through words and pictures, it tells the story of an orphan living secretly inside the walls of a Paris train station and the mystery he is desperate to solve. Selznick's pencil illustrations unspool in long, wordless sequences that feel like watching a film. I love to gift it to kids ages nine and older, when children are ready to be swept away by something different and ambitious. It's a book they'll never forget.