The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a 526 page book by Brian Selznick. This book is a wonderful book told both in writing and pictures. This book is about a boy, Hugo, whos father died and is staying with his alcoholic uncle who tends the stations clocks. When he disappears Hugo takes it upon himself to maintain the clocks and try to fix a robot that his fathter had been working on before he died. Stealing to survive Hugo makes a fantasic main character in this story. I would highly recomend this award winning book.

The Upstairs Room

The Upstairs Room is a 179 page book by Johanna Reiss that tells about a girl and her family during the Holocaust. This is based on a true story and it is about a girl named Annie and her family who are Jews that live in Holland. They soon have to go into hiding because Hitler and the Nazis wanted to send Jews to Concentration Camps where they would be tortured, beat, or killed. Annie and her sister hide together for over two years. They were long years but Annie's family luckily made it through and never got caught.
The theme of this story, The Upstairs room, is courage. It took great courage to go into hiding and stay quiet and not get caught because if Annie got caught she could have been killed. Everytime the German soldiers searched the house Annie had to be silent and calm. What she did took a lot of courage. Knowing that ahe might have got killed when she did someting took a lot of courage. Annie is very brave and so is the rest of her family in this story.