I had a wonderful time reading this to my two four year-olds. Selznick imaginatively intertwines early filmmaker Georges Méliès with his fictional character, Hugo Cabret, into a mystery-within-a-mystery book. <i>The Invention of Hugo Cabret</i> was layered enough to keep my kids and I gripped as we ripped through it's plot twists and flipped through it's beautiful illustrations. <br>Reading Hugo to my youngsters has familiarized them with the names of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Georges Méliès and provided me [happily] with a context to show some of these films to them.