Don’t Believe Everything You Read

April 29th, 2010 by

The other day, I was reading an article in The New York Times, and I came across this description of The Invention of Hugo Cabret: “the Brian Selznick children’s novel about a Parisian orphan and his robot.”

ExCUSE me? That is NOT what Hugo Cabret is about. If you’ve read the book, then you know it’s actually a multi-layered story about a homeless orphan who dedicates himself to completing his father’s work, and who finds his own path in the process.

Yes, a robot of sorts is involved, but that description makes it sound like Hugo and the robot are buddies, hanging out and having adventures together. Dude, I expect more from you, New York Times. Shame on you.

But on the plus side, this travesty did inspire me to come up with some fun misleading book blurbs of my own:

  • Harry Potter, about a boy’s adventures at boarding school
  • Charlotte’s Web, about life on a farm
  • Holes, about a guy who’s wrongly accused of stealing sneakers
  • Percy Jackson, about a teen who’s meeting his father for the first time
  • Warriors, about a bunch of cats

Join in my indignation! Post a comment with a misleading book description of your own! It’ll help you work through your anger issues, I swear.

— Karen

Karen wouldn’t mind having her own robot. But then Nancy would probably get jealous. Muhahaha! Now Karen really wants her own robot!
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