Two stories, set fifty years apart – one told through pictures and the other told through words.
The first story is of Ben, a young boy in the 1977 who just lost his mother and sets out to look for his father. The second story follows Rose, a young girl from 1927′s New Jersey who sets out to look for her idol, a movie star.
Both children’s search take them to New York City. Both children – deaf – are struggling to find what they are looking for in a world where hearing is normal and sometimes taken for granted. In a sense, they end up mirroring each other’s search and face similar hardships. How their lives intertwine in the end, though I was able to guess, was still very bittersweet.
I enjoyed the illustrations immensely. Brian Selznick sets out to tell a story through his pictures and he succeeds. The details in some of the pictures were amazing. I found myself looking forward to Rose’s story even though I loved reading Ben’s.
Brian also gives the reader a glimpse into deaf culture, a culture that I’ve never experienced, and opened my eyes to a different lifestyle. I appreciated the way he told the story, giving the reader a glimpse into a world that some might not be familiar with. The story also echos with the longing we all have to belong somewhere, to be a part of something.
Wonderstruck is, at it’s core, a story of acceptance and community. It’s quite relatable and because of this, I think many people will enjoy reading it.
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