Monday, June 18, 2012

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: The Hugo Movie Companion

Today’s pick: The Hugo Movie Companion by Brian Selznick

Scholastic Press, 2011

From the publisher:

Brian Selznick takes readers on an intimate tour of the movie-making process as his Caldecott Award-winning book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is turned into a 3-D major motion picture by Academy Award-winning director, Martin Scorsese, written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, John Logan.

Lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs from the movie, and filled with fun, informative interviews of the cast and crew, comparisons of artwork from the book alongside people, props, costumes, and sets from the movie, plus fascinating information about automatons, filmmaking pioneer Georges Méliès, and an essay on the birth of movies written by Martin Scorsese, The Hugo Movie Companion beautifully extends the experience of the book and the movie, and is a must-have for fans of all ages.

My take:

After seeing the movie Hugo, I got this book for my 12-year-old daughter to read. I don’t usually read books about movies, but I ended up reading it too. I loved the facts about the movie and some of the different people involved in creating it. It gives some great details about what happens behind the scenes to create a movie. I also really enjoyed the comparisons between the book illustrations and stills from the movie. It was so fascinating to see how they tried to recreate the world of the book so carefully. Readers of middle grade books who enjoyed the movie will appreciate this glimpse into what happened behind the scenes – with lots of illustrations, pictures, schematic drawings and even a bit of a script.

Other info:

The author of this book, Brian Selznick, is also the author/illustrator of the original book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and it was interesting to read about his inspiration, and why and how he ended up with the illustrations (and how he came up with Hugo’s name).

Brian Selznick appeared in the party scene in the movie, and he includes some of the details of his experience.

Other books written by this author:

The Houdini Box

Wonderstruck

For more about the movie and book, check out the website for The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Looking for more MMGM? Check out these links:

· Ally Beecher
· Barbara Watson
· Deb Marshall
· Anita Laydon Miller's Middle Grade Blog
· Middle Grade Mafioso
· Literary Rambles
· Ms. Yingling Reads
· Jennifer Rumberger
· Pam Torres
· The Accidental Novelist
· G.S. Prendergast
· Gina Carey
· Laurisa White Reyes
· Marshall and Emiline
· Dorine White
· Temre Beltz

7 comments:

  1. My 10 year became obsessed with Hugo when it first came out, even though he had never read the book (he's a movie nut). When he found the companion book, he just had to have it. As far as I know, he really enjoyed it. And I'm happy with any book that gets him to read.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I heard Brian speak in October of 2011, right before the movie was released. He was excited for the movie to come out, of course, but was thrilled about the companion book too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haven't seen the movie yet, but you know...will still get the book. Thanks for sharing this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. the movie was wonderfully magical -- and neat that the author was involved in penning a book about its background/experience.

    on a related note, the adorable actor who played hugo won the role of ender wiggin in next year's ender's game. different genre, but i'm stoked :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for reminding me that I have to get Hugo on DVD. I loved the book.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I LOVED the movie. I think my grandson would love this book and, if I'm really nice, might share it with me. Thanks for letting me know about it. Nice review.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It was an exquisitely visual treat which the whole family enjoyed.

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear your responses and thoughts! Your comments will appear after moderation (I’ve decided to enable moderation due to excessive spam).