I read this book straight through while in the waiting room this morning. The illustrations, both by the author and other sources, are fantastic. 
 Hugo Cabret is lonely orphan living in the walls of a Paris train station. His mechanical mind and talent for clockwork make it easy for him to keep all the clocks in the train station running, but he has a bigger project to work on. If he can collect or steal all the pieces he needs and avoid the Station Inspector, Hugo may be able to create magic. 
 "He could feel the cogs and wheels in his head spinning in different directions." 
 "I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts."