The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick.
Hugo is a twelve year old clock maker, an orphan, and a thief. He lives in the walls of a Parisian train station, hiding the fact that his drunken uncle (who normally maintains the station’s clocks) has completely disappeared. Hugo keeps the clocks going and hides in his uncle’s room, rebuilding a clockwork manikin his own father died trying to restore. Hugo steals small bits of hardware from the toymaker’s stall in the station, trying to fix his broken toy. He thinks the toy, designed to write on paper, has a message from his father. The toymaker, a man with his own secrets, catches him stealing one day, but instead of finding answers, more questions, and secrets, threaten Hugo’s fragile safety. This book is half text, half illustration, and won the Caldecott Medal for distinguished book illustration.