I’ll start by saying, there is no question that this book will be read. The library ordered five copies for the Children’s Department and all five are checked out. This book’s predecessor, the Caldecott winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret, guarantees it. That book won the hearts of both girls and boys, lovers of literature and reluctant readers. And it opened up a whole new genre – “a novel in words and pictures.”
I finished the 600 plus page book over the course two days’ worth of stolen moments, breaks and lunch times at work. There are really that many pictures and that few words. With 26 days left to my “check-out period”, I promptly passed it off to my 6th grader with the words, “this was written by the same guy who wrote Hugo Cabret,” and she’s been lugging it around – it’s 2 pounds – ever since. Her 1st grade sister “read” the illustrations cover to cover on one trip to school.
They will probably appreciate it more than me. I was “wonderstruck” by Hugo Cabret. I read it during the Super Bowl the year it won the Caldecott. I gave a book talk to the guests present during the Half Time Show. I gushed. And gushed. And gushed some more. I am soooooo excited to see the movie being produced by Martin Scorsese. The setting and the subject matter enchanted me. If you haven’t at least glanced through it, you ought to try it.
I was completely sold on the new book by an article in the School Library Journal. (Hence the five copies.) I book talked the novel in advance. I was enamored of the background behind the story. The brilliance of the story’s foundation – that’s what captured my imagination.
(Even as I write, one of my eldest’s classmates has arrived to reserve his copy – because, of course, he saw hers! Glorious!)
I’ll make a long story short. Smirk. There are two stories in Wonderstruck. The first is set in 1927. The heroine is 12-year-old Rose and she is deaf. She is the daughter of divorced parents. Her mother is a famous Hollywood starlet and Rose lives with her overbearing father in Hoboken, NJ. But Rose can see the New York City skyline out her window and she longs to be there. Out of safety, her parents refuse to grant her wishes. This story is told entirely through pictures.
The second story is set in 1977 on Gunflint Lake, Minnesota. The protagonist of this story is a 12-year-old boy who has recently lost his mother to a fatal car accident and he has never known his father. Ben was born deaf in one ear. Just as he discovers clues to the identity and whereabouts of his father, he is struck completely deaf by a lightning strike. This story is told in prose. The two stories weave back and forth until they finally converge and the two characters meet.
In all honesty, I preferred the story behind the story.
I think it really comes down to our tastes. I preferred Hugo Cabret primarily because of the setting, Paris, France, and the topic, automatons, clockworks, the first moving pictures. I was entranced with the details and the machinery. I’ve never had a love for New York or a wish to go there. Museums of Natural History are not my cup of tea… unless they’re ancient. I appreciate Selnick’s passion for museums, librarys, literature, collections, and scaled models. I just don’t share a similar passion. So was I disappointed? Yeah. But it’s my fault, not his. He is an amazing artist.
My favorite part of the book is one particular attention to detail. The year is 1977. The characters enter the Subway and there is a movie poster hanging on the wall. STAR WARS! Page 528!
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