Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was amazing! The plot line was fairly simple (although I'm sure it's not quite as simple to a child). The book is basically two overlapping stories, one of Rose that takes place in 1927, and one of Ben, in 1977. Rose's story is only told in pictures, and Ben's only in words. The two stories weave together beautifully, and being able to guess the ending does not distract the reader.

For example, Ben runs away to New York. The book says:

Ben continued uptown. After a few blocks, he stopped at a red stone building set back a little bit from the road. It was surrounded by trees and seemed larger than any of the other buildings nearby. The name of the building fluttered on a banner hung between two columns.


It looked like a castle from a fairy tale.

But then, rather than telling the reader where Ben is, the story switches over to Rose's POV, and we see her holding a postcard of the American Museum of Natural History.

Yes, I would absolutely categorize this book as a children's book (my guess would be grades 3-5), but I think any bibliophile should check it out because it's creatively and beautifully done, and is a testament to the reasons I love reading.

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