Ben read it out loud: “‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.’”
Because his mom was the town librarian, Ben was used to being surrounded by quotes from books, many of which he didn’t fully understand. But this one struck him as particularly strange.
He thought about it for a moment, came up with nothing, then said, ‘What does that mean?”
His mom smiled and shrugged.
He was sure she knew exactly what it meant, but she liked him to figure out things for himself.
(from Wonderstruck, page 22)
Wonderstruck is a hefty book (637 pages), but it’s one of those books that you can’t stop reading once you’ve started, and before you know it, you’re done. It also helps that 460 of those pages are artwork, but these illustrations don’t just bring the story to life…they tell their own story.
In Wonderstruck, Brian Selznick deftly weaves together two stories about two children in different eras, both of whom feel lost in the world and set off on journeys to find themselves. It is 1977 in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota, where a young boy, Ben, is grieving the death of his mother and confused by nightmares about wolves. Having never known his father, Ben feels alone in the world. All that he has is his memories of his mother and a museum box, his own “Cabinet of Wonders” in which he stores all the little trinkets that are precious to him. A book he discovers hidden among his mother’s things prompts him to run away to New York City, where he embarks on an adventure involving a book store and a museum.
Rose’s story takes place in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1927. Like Ben, Rose feels alone, cooped up in her room with no one to talk to, know one who understands her. A scrapbook of a famous actress prompts Rose to climb out her window and flee to New York City, where she goes on an adventure of her own to find the one person who will know what she needs.
The structure of Wonderstruck is what makes it a delightful book. The written narrative tells Ben’s story, while the illustrations show Rose’s. Selznick tells both stories simultaneously; moving between the two characters took a bit of getting used to, but soon The Girl and I were flying through the book. It’s amazing how much detail and emotion Selznick packs into the sketches and how we were able to get to know and understand Rose through pictures alone. We especially loved how the pictures told a story, that they weren’t simply pictures used to illustrated what had already been written.
We were both surprised by how deep Wonderstruck was, even though there were times that the writing fell a little flat and was more telling than showing. There were parts where The Girl said, “Um…we already know that!,” and we pretty much had the entire story figured out around the halfway mark — but that didn’t stop us from really enjoying it. There were so many things to talk about, like museums and what objects we would put into museums of our lives, loss and grief, how much we depend on speech to communicate with others and how isolated we would feel without that. Although Wonderstruck is geared toward children, adults can get a lot out of the book, too. I didn’t expect there to be so many layers to the two stories, and it was refreshing to take a break from the written narrative and let the illustrations take over.
Wonderstruck is our book club’s June pick, and we will be meeting tomorrow for the discussion, which will be led by The Girl (age 11). I can’t wait to see what she has planned for us! In the meantime, she managed to jot down a few initial thoughts about the book. She said she’s focused more of her energy on the book club discussion, and she’ll write up something for me to include next week when I post about the meeting.
The Girl’s thoughts:
*I’m really happy I read this book. I found it interesting; it really makes you think.
*The illustrations are wonderful. The pencil sketches were so vivid, you thought they were going to rub off.
*Some parts were kind of cheesy because they explained something in like two paragraphs that I already figured out in the first two sentences.
*I can’t decide if I like this book better than The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
*I think people of all ages would like this book.
*I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.
Stay tuned next week for our thoughts on the book club meeting!
Disclosure: We purchased our copy of Wonderstruck. I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.
© 2012 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
I love that this book can be shared by all ages! I can’t wait to hear how the book club meeting goes. I have a feeling the girl will rock at leading the discussion!
Until I started reading with The Girl, I never really thought about how many books for younger readers are also enjoyable for adults.
I was wondering if she liked it better than Hugo! Darn, she doesn’t know. I cannot wait for tomorrow’s discussion.
She seems to talk more about Wonderstruck than Hugo, so I personally think she liked Wonderstruck better. However, she really loved the automaton in Hugo…and of course, saying that word over and over. lol
I think I liked Hugo just a tiny bit more (probably because I got all obsessed with automatons) but I really loved Wonderstruck. His illustrations just captivated me. I love how his stories inspire and teach, as well as entertain. I can’t wait to hear how the meeting goes!
The Girl loved all the automaton stuff, too, but I’ve never read Hugo and probably won’t since I’ve seen the movie. Selznick does do a wonderful job teaching and entertaining at the same time…I was surprised by how deep this book was and how thought-provoking.
I hope all goes well at the book club meeting
It was fantastic!
Sounds good. I loved Hugo so I’m sure I’d dig this as well.
My daughter loved them both, so you might too.
I have a copy of this one and loved Hugo so much that I’m positive I will adore this one too. I find it so wonderful that The Girl is involved in the reading and discussion of this book!!!
It’s been a great experience for her being in the book club. She obviously can’t read every book, but it’s been fun for her to participate when she can.
I really enjoyed this book!
Yay!
This sounds terrific — I love the joining of stories from different times. You had me on “one of those books you can’t stop reading once you’ve started.”
Great! Hope you give it a try.
My daughter and I really enjoyed this book. My son LOVED the illustrations since he loves to draw.
The illustrations were fantastic, even though I thought the ones that go closer and closer over a number of pages to highlight an eye, for instance, weren’t really necessary.
My son and I both loved this book too. In fact it is one of the few that he has taken the time to reread just for fun.
I could totally see The Girl re-reading this one as well, and I would probably peruse it again for the illustrations.
What a unique format for a book-I don’t know of any others that have been done quite this way. Now you’ve got me curious!
It is unique and really well done.
[...] over the weekend at Novel Places, and despite being two members short, we had a great discussion. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick was one of the books nominated by The Girl (age 11), which means she led the [...]