Sunday, October 2, 2011

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 -

36 comments:

  1. Dear Hugo Book Bloggers,
    Hugo's Dad I think was a good man because he did a lot for his son and he would try his hardest to make life good. It was sad he had to leave Hugo and the automaton



    Maddy_PA

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  2. The automaton is very imported to hugo because he is doing all these things to try to get his notebook back.



    nick-PA

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  3. I learned a lot about the automaton and i think the old man made it and doesn't know how to fix it.


    Derek-PA

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  4. we learned that his uncle is mean because he yells at hugo and makes him do his job

    matthewpa

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  5. Dear Hugo Blogger,
    Hugo's Uncle I don't think was a good man because it said that he smelled of drugs, and he also was kind of mean because he didn't even feel bad for Hugo when he came to get him, to take him in with him, he made him do all the house stuff a maid would have done but Hugo's Uncle didn't have a maid he had Hugo to do all the work for him, He yelled at Hugoif he did something wrong and made Hugo cry himself to sleep most nights. 2. Hugo's Father had died in a fire because the guard didn't know he locked him up there. No one knew how the fire started. 3. When Hugo left his Uncles house because he didn't come home, he found the automaton crushed up on the groud with ashes , Hugo made a promise to finish the automaton and hopefully he does.



    Lala_PA

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  6. I think the old man is not trying to hurt the boy but he really loves the notebook.





    Emily_pa

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  7. dear bloggers, I think the automaton is important to Hugo because he goes through alot to try to fix it. Isaiah_PA

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  8. dear bloggers,I don't think Hugo's uncle is a good person because it said he smelled of drugs. Isaiah_PA

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  9. Dear Mr. Wittmer

    Hugo's Father was a good man and had a happy life and family to. He was nice and had a good gob.



    Raymond-PA

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  10. Dear,hugo book blogers

    I think the old man likes the automaton and took the note book because he want's to build an automaton and when he builds an automaton he will give Hugo the notebook and the automaton back

    Nathan,PA

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  11. we learned that his uncle is the only family member that is still alive.



    Madi-PA

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  12. he was a man that build clocks robots and he was very talatend

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  13. I know that his uncle worked on clocks and he went and would climb and he would go and wind them every morning and afternoon. Lily PA

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  14. Dear studio 213 I learned that his father is kind of nice cause he did not burn the note book and he bought Hugo a cup of coffee



    Timmy-PA

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  15. Dear Hugo book bloggers,
    Hugo's uncle is all Hugo has left. His uncle takes care of Hugo. His uncle doesn't really care about Hugo. Hugo's uncle is not very kind either. He seems like he is a bad person.


    Sabrina_PA

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  16. Hugo's father was a man who built clocks and robots.
    Tori-PA

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  17. and his anucle is only person in his family left




    Dan_pa

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  18. Dear,hugo lovers

    we learned that the automaton is valuable to Hugo he seems to be determined to fix it and doesn't want to leave the train station because of how special it is to him.

    ReplyDelete
  19. We learned that Hugo's father is a person who fixes clocks

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  20. We loved reading these chapters!
    We learned that Hugo feels really guilty about his dad's death. He feels responsible. This must be an awful way to feel. We wish that someone had been there to tell him that it wasn't his fault.
    We also think that the old man isn't trying to be mean or bad about taking the notebook. He just doesn't know how to ask or it. This book just keeps getting better. We loved the Franklin Institute's website.
    Grade5AToronto

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  21. We learned that Hugo's father passed away in locked room of an attic of a museum. Also Hugo's father is a horologist and owns his own shop. We learned that his uncle winds up the clocks in the train station. In addition, his uncle drinks a lot. The automaton is not fixed because Hugo's father was killed while working on it. We also learned that Hugo is going to try to fix the automaton.

    Grzzly10

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  22. Hugo's father worked in a museum attic. He was always bringing Hugo inventions. He was a very good inventor. He was devoted to the automaton. He gave broken clocks to Hugo, and Hugo would always fix them. Hugo's father drew pictures of the automaton in a notebook. One day the guard accidentally locked Hugo's father in the museum. There was a fire, and Hugo's father died.

    Grizzly5

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  23. His Father and his uncle work with clocks but his father died because he was working on an automaton and got locked in from the security guard and the building caught on fire and Hugo's father died, so his uncle took Hugo to live with him, but now his uncle went somewhere and hasn't came back for a week now.

    BHE- Iowa

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  24. The father is a clockmaker and he works in a museum. He dies in a fire because the guard locked him in while he was working on the automaton.

    Hugo's uncle is the only living relative. Hugo has to live with his uncle until one day his uncle didn't return. Hugo has to work in the clocks because that is were his uncle worked and now he has to work there .

    LECJ-Iowa

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  25. The automaton is a cool invention. It can write and looks like a real human. It is made of clockworks.

    Hugo's dad is a clockmaker and git killed in a fire because Hugo accidentally shut the door so his father couldn't get out.

    Hugo's uncle makes bad decisions and isn't very wealthy. He lives in the train station.

    MABS- Iowa

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  26. In this chapter I learned that Hugo's father died in a fire in the museum while he was fixing the automaton. Hugo's life is going to change because now he has to live with his uncle who is teaching Hugo how to steal and clean clocks. I liked this chapter because I learned about his father and what happened.
    Lax Toronto

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  27. I bet the automaton will write something to save Hugo's life. It must be so hard for Hugo to live by himself. It's so sad that his father died in the fire. I wonder where his uncle dissappeared to? Maybe he will show up later on in the book. How is Hugo going to fix the automaton? Hugo thinks that his fathers death, is all his fault but its not.

    Mar Toronto

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  28. Hugo's father seems very nice because he did so much for Hugo. For example, he tried to fix the automaton that Hugo wanted him to fix .
    Zuc Toronto

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  29. Hugo lives in the walls of a train station. This is unusual because usually children like in a real house with their families and parents. Hugo cleans the clocks in the train station and looks through the clocks in the train station. Like windows. I think that the old man is so interested in the drawings in Hugo's notebook because I think that the notebook used to belong to the old man. I think that the notebook is very important to Hugo because it's the only toy Hugo has.
    Lev Toronto

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  30. I know that Hugo felt guilty about his fathers death. It was not his fault that the security guard did not know that anyone was in the museum late at night. Someone should have been there to cheer Hugo up.

    Mel
    toronto

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  31. I've been thinking about who the girl in the story might be. I think the old man is her grandfather. I also think that she will keep her promise to get the notebook some how. Or maybe the old man adopted her and has an assistant.
    Gar
    Toronto

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  32. Hugo doesnt have any time to have fun Hugos life needs fun but hes going to be bored he fixes clocks and steels food

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  33. It must be so hard to live alone. I feel so worried for Hugo when he steals things. He might get caught and be taken away to the orphanage. If he is caught he can't fix the automaton.
    Bea Toronto

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  34. I loved this chapter because.....
    You could feel the connection with Hugo and how hard it was for him to be loosing his father.
    His life changed because he had to go live with his uncle. His uncle taught Hugo how to steel food and how to clean clocks.

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  35. Every body go to http://blog.swsd.k12.pa.us/read101/

    ReplyDelete