Wonderstruck

Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures

Written by Brian Selznick

Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic

Reading Level: Ages 9 and up

Wonderstruck was selected for the middle school Schneider Family Book Award. 

First off, I have to say that I loved, loved, loved Hugo Cabret and the way the book is designed, so I had no doubt that I would love this one.   I love the illustrations and the way they are drawn in sketch form.  This book is divided into two stories both set 50 years apart.  Ben’s story is told in text and Rose’s story is told in pictures.

Ben is a boy who lives by a lake with his cousins.  He has just lost his mother.  He loves to collect things as well as read.  His mother was a librarian, and they used to read together.  He would go into her library and read all the books he could.  He is also deaf in one ear.  One day after Ben makes a wish on a shooting star, he discovers a light on in his old house which is only eighty three steps away.  He goes to investigate and what he finds has him asking himself many questions of who his father was and what his mother never told him.  He stumbles upon a book titled Wonderstruck and a bookmark with a phone number and address.  As he tries to dial the number, lighting from the storm that is going on outside, strikes and damages his good ear leaving him deaf.  Still, he decides to find his father.  He goes on a adventure to New York which leads him into a museum where he meets a friend named Jamie.  What he ends up finding there explains who he is and where he came from.

Rose is a girl who is deaf and is very unhappy with her life.  She has what looks like a not understanding father.  She keeps a scrapbook of someone famous and sneaks off to watch movies starring that famous person.  She runs away to find that actress and what we find out when she does is sure to surprise you.  This leads her to go to New York and stumble upon the same museum that Ben goes into 50 years later. 

How do Rose’s and Ben’s story come together?  What do these two strangers share?  In this wonderful adventure you will be taken into a world of wonders.  This story is a perfect read for elementary students in upper grade levels and any older person who would want to read it.  I can’t imagine anyone reading this book and disliking it.