Walking Away

What do you think Brian Selznick wants readers to come away with when they read this book?

New ideas, New Concepts, New Things

Did you learn anything new from reading this book?

Prometheus

The story of Prometheus is important in The Invention of Hugo Cabret. There’s a picture of Prometheus on pages 344–345. 
We learn that Prometheus was “finally set free” from his chains.  
What character or characters in this book does Prometheus resemble?

Hugo's Invention

This book is called The Invention of Hugo Cabret. What is Hugo’s “invention”? Could the word refer to more than one thing?

Friendship

Despite a rocky start Hugo & Isabelle become good friends. 

Discuss and write about the ways is which they are similar. How are they different?

Do you think that their similarities outweigh their differences? 

The Franklin Institute and Automatons

Chapters 4 and 5 are filled with a great deal of information about Hugo’s father and uncle. What do we learn about his father? His Uncle? The Automaton? Pick one or all three topics to blog about for this post.

Be sure to read the remainder of the post before posting a comment.

Brian Selzick did a great deal of research to write this wonderful book. One of his many stops was to a place that I visited many times as a child. Located in Philadelphia (my hometown), The Franklin Institute opened their doors to Brian as he wrote Hugo. Here he learned about automatons and their importance back in the in the early 1900s.


This link is the Franklin Institute's website. The top section contains a great deal of information about the early automotans. Half way down the page, you want to click the video on the right. This is when Brian visited and signed Hugo.
http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/automaton/automaton.php?cts=instrumentation -

Clocks

In Chapter 2, The Clocks, we learn a lot about Hugo and what he does everyday with them. In Chapter 3, the reader is provided with more information about the old man and some more about Hugo. The questions for this post are as follows:

1. How would you describe Hugo to someone that has never read the story?
2. Now, do the same thing for the old man, what is he like?

Post these thoughts onto the blog making sure to site evidence from the story to backup your reasons for saying what you say.

Happy reading,

Mr. Wittmer

Hugo's Notebook

We now have learned a bit more about Hugo and the old man. Hugo was being very sneaky about trying to steal another toy from the old man's toy shop. Thinking he was sleeping, Hugo came out of the clock and tried to snatch one. Caught by the old man, Hugo now was in danger of loosing his toys and his notebook. Try to answer this question about the notebook and old man after you have read up to page 61.

Questions to answer:
Why is the old man so interested in the drawings from Hugo's notebook?
What is the importance of the notebook to Hugo?


Happy Reading,

Mr. Wittmer

Teachers:
The hope is to pick up the pace next week. We should all be finished up to page 61 by the end of the first week. Next week's goal is to read up page number 133. We can always adjust this as we move forward.

Opening Scene

Good Morning,

Today, September 19th, 2011 marks the start of what will be an amazing trip with Hugo in The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

Here we go with what I hope will be a fun and interesting project for all the students and teachers that are involved. The first thirty or so pages of Hugo are pictures/illustrations. Great illustrations but when you have to show two pages, then flip the page, view two more pages, you often don’t get the full effect or do you? Brian Selznick has made it possible to watch by turning the opening pages into a video. The three questions you are to think about and answer after watching the video and before moving on to the next part of the book are :

Why does Hugo keep looking behind him?
Who is the older man and what role does he play in the book?
What importance will clocks have in our story?

Below is the video link to the video. Teachers, If we could have individual students comment rather then whole classes, it would make the discussion more meaningful for all that are involved. Once you have commented on the blog, be sure to check back and see what other students are thinking about the opening scene.

Opening Scene

Happy Reading,

Mr. Wittmer