"You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person died for no reason." -- Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast --

 "I loved autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it." -- Lee Maynard --

 "The white towers and golden domes of the church gleamed in the sapphire sky. The luxurian autumn asleep till morning. The silence of the earth seemed to merge with the silence of the heavens and the mystery of the earth touched the mystery of the stars." -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky --

 "Humanity's true moral test, its fundamental test . . . consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals." -- Milan Kundera --

 "The great revolution in the history of man, past, present, and future, is the revolution of those determined to be free." -- John F. Kennedy --

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Title: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Author: Brian Selznick

Rating: ★★★★★

Ages: 10 - 18+

    Orphan, clock keeper, and theif, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks - like the gears of the clocks he keeps - with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the train station, Hugo's undercover life and his most precious secret are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery. 

    With 284 pages of original drawings, and combining elements of picture book, graphic novel, and film, Brian Selznick breaks open the novel form to create an entirely new reading experience. Here is a stunning, cinematic tour de force from a boldly innovative storyteller, artist, and bookmaker. 

 "Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves." -- Friedrich Nietzsche --