Brian Selznick is the award winning illustrator of a number of children's books. He studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design. His first paying art job was creating murals for a book store in New York City. In 2008, he won the Caldecott Medal for his book The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Scholastic Press, 2007). The book created a new form of storytelling, employing both pictures and prose to tell the story. This uncharted form was very successful. Selznick used the form again in his new book, Wonderstruck.
Simultaneous Storylines of Wonderstruck
Wonderstruck tells two stories simultaneously. The first is the story of Ben, which is told in words. Ben has been deafened after being on the phone during an electric storm. He has his mother's locket and a book, Wonderstruck, inscribed by a man named Danny. He decides that Danny is his father and travels to New York City to find him.
Ben winds up at the American Museum of Natural History where he shows a woman his father's picture inside his mother's locket, but can't communicate with her. He finds a note on a meteor and travels to a diorama of wolves, where he meets Jamie. Jamie begins writing notes to communicate with Ben. The pair are joined by an older woman with long white hair who seems very interested in the wolves.
Jamie takes Ben to his secret room in the museum. The boys explore, and Jamie agrees to help Ben contact his family. Jamie gives Ben food and leaves for a couple of days. While waiting for Jamie to return, Ben continues to explore the museum, returning to the wolf diorama, which he believes was designed by the mysterious Danny.
The second story, of a young girl, is told in pictures. The girl is also deaf and kept locked in her house by her father. The girl runs away to New York to find her mother and someone named Walter. Walter finds her and takes her to the American Museum of Natural History. She explores the new exhibit called the Cabinets of Wonder - a display of many things from various sites around the museum.
The two stories come together when Ben finds the bookstore mentioned on a bookmark in Wonderstruck. Ben discovers through notes that the owners of the bookstore know him somehow. The woman, Rose, takes Ben to the museum to explain his history to him. She shows him the diorama of the city of New York that Danny, her son, had made. Jamie joins the pair at this point and a period of discovery among the three occurs during a black out.
Illustrations of Wonderstruck
Unlike familiar picture books, the illustrations in Wonderstruck are used to tell a story different from that of the words. The two stories occur in the same location - the American Museum of Natural History- fifty years apart. The over 300 pencil drawings include details required to tell the story of Rose as a young girl. Selznick's illustrations are reminiscent of a silent movie in that no words are required to understand what is happening.
As the two stories collide at the end, the illustrations add to the telling of the complete story by giving the reader a deeper understanding of the events after Ben and Rose meet. We also see Ben learning sign language through full page illustrations of signs.
Characterization of Wonderstruck
Ben's adventures are those that many young people have experienced. He is a real young man who is struggling with the loss of his mother and the desire to find his father. At the same time, Rose is struggling with being kept locked away because of her handicap. These struggles, and how the characters react with the desire to make their lives better, would give the reader the strength to rise above whatever problems they are having.
Wonderstruck is an amazing book. It follows closely in the new genre that Selznick invented with his groundbreaking book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Readers of all ages will find the stories told through illustrations and words enjoyable.
Wonderstruck Written and Illustrated by Brian Selznick
Scholastic Press, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-545-02789-2
Kelley Huston - A reader of all kinds of books, Kelley is an teacher who loves crafts and scrapbooking. She is a Disney fan who loves all things Disney.
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