The story follows twelve-year old Hugo Cabret who after losing his father in a fire finds himself as an orphan, clock-keeper and thief as he lives his life inside the walls of a busy train-station in Paris. His current life and survival depends on anonymity. This is all set in jeopardy when he crosses paths with a toy-maker and his eccentric grand-daughter. As they get find each other more and more present in each others' lives and learn more about each other, Hugo fears that his biggest secret is going to come out. 

We soon learn that he is not the only one keeping a secret. A tale of magic, a cryptic drawing, a secret notebook, a mechanical man, a stolen key and a message that has the ability to bring back one who appeared to be gone. 

Do you remember how proud you felt the first time you read a book with no pictures in it? I do. But reading this, made me miss it SO MUCH. 
This is a wonderful novel and more than, a brilliant piece of art, which incooperates both writing and fantastic and simple pencil-drawings. I've always had a problem with slow beginnings, but Selznick makes it effortless with drawings. You are introduced to the setting and the main character after turning just a few pages.

The only negative I can think of is that because the drawings is a big part of the novel you'll finish it in less that two hours, and then the brilliance of it doesn't really hit you which can be a bit anticlimatic.