2008 Caldecott Winner

Last summer at the Annual Conference of the American Library Association, there was a buzz about this book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. It is a juvenile fiction story that is a hybrid of text and picture. There was much speculation that it might win both the Caldecott and the Newbery Medals. Unfortunately, it did not, but it did take the Caldecott, the first text-based book to do so. It is a great book, one that I recommend that you check out today! (Ages 9-12)

Review from ALA: From an opening shot of the full moon setting over an awakening Paris in 1931, this tale casts a new light on the picture book form. Hugo is a young orphan secretly living in the walls of a train station where he labors to complete a mysterious invention left by his father. In a work of more than 500 pages, the suspenseful text and wordless double-page spreads narrate the tale in turns. Neither words nor pictures alone tell this story, which is filled with cinematic intrigue. Black & white pencil illustrations evoke the flickering images of the silent films to which the book pays homage.

For more information on this year's winners, click here: 2008 ALA Award Winners