Wonderstruck in What's the Name of That Book???

Sep 14, 2011 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, middle-grade

Another gorgeous combination of text and pictures from Brian Selznick. I particularly loved Rose's all picture storyline, since it was like seeing a silent film-- fitting for her, as you will see!

They need to invent a new category for his books come awards season, they really do! The Caldecott is for illustration, but the text is just as good, and supposedly the Newbery is for books that don't require illustration as part of their narrative . . . which rather leaves this book left out! I hope th ...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: new-york, graphic-novels-comics, great-illustrations, kids

Brian Selznick does it again in this gorgeously illustrated story of two children, fifty years apart (1927 and 1977) whose lives intersect. Museums, wolves, lightning, the American Museum of Natural History, sign language, missing parents, and a turtle made of sseahells are some of the things that connect the two. References to From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler abound as young Ben finds himself running from Minnesota to New York in search of his father at the Kincaid Book Stor ...more

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Aug 29, 2011 GraceAnne rated it it was amazing

OK, this is wondrous fine. It is a gorgeous amalgam of picture and story, where the pictures tell one tale and the words another, and they come together. It is a love letter to New York City and several of its institutions as well as its streets and byways; it honors wolves, stars, lakeside. It honors the urge of children to collect small objects of importance to them: pebbles and shells; bookmarks and pictures. It honors family, friendship, and tenderness. I did not think Brian Selznick could d ...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Megan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, illustrationsilove, favoriteauthors, thiswritingamazesme, juvenile-fiction, bookbattlecontender

Can I give this 5,000 stars? Can I marry Brian Selznick?

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Oct 11, 2011 Ginny Messina rated it it was amazing

I loved this book! And didn’t expect to at all. In fact, I brought it home from the library and thought I probably wasn’t going to read it as it was annoyingly huge, heavy and bulky, and I didn’t think the format would appeal to me. (I’m a pretty old-fashioned reader. Just tell me a story; I don’t need you to be all new-fangled and clever about it.)

But I picked it up last night and started reading and was immediately drawn in. There are two stories here: Ben's is told in usual narrative style a ...more

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May 07, 2015 Thomas rated it really liked it

Shelves: juvenile, 2015

In The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Selznick created one story in two media, prose and art. In Wonderstruck he does the same thing, but this time there are two concurrent stories taking place. Instead of alternating the story between one medium and another, he tells one story with art and one story with prose. I loved the way Selznick told the story of Hugo, using art in place of narrative to keep the story moving, but I found the technique he uses in Wonderstruck to be more effective. Part of it i In The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Selznick created one story in two media, prose and art. In Wonderstruck he does the same thing, but this time there are two concurrent stories taking place. Instead of alternating the story between one medium and another, he tells one story with art and one story with prose. I loved the way Selznick told the story of Hugo, using art in place of narrative to keep the story moving, but I found the technique he uses in Wonderstruck to be more effective. Part of it is due to the characters and the importance of one medium over the other in relation to who they are, but I'm not going to spoil it for you by telling you why.

The dustjacket on the book says little about the story inside, save that it's about two people from different time periods who are on a mission of self-discovery, and really, that's all anyone needs to know about this story. Part of what makes it such a joy to read is the way Selznick reveals the story one tiny piece at a time, and spoiling anything about it would only take that joy away from anyone else. It's somewhat frustrating, since I want to talk about the moments of brilliance that pepper this book, but if you've read The Invention of Hugo Cabret, then you should have an idea of what's in store.

The artwork is incredible. It's lush and evocative, and full of little details for devoted readers to pore over. I love the crosshatching style that Selznick uses in his artwork, and I like the way he uses graphite to evoke a sense of texture in all of the illustrations. The paper used to print the book is smooth, but looking at the pictures, you'll be tempted to rub the artwork just to get a sense of that texture he creates. You might even think that some of that graphite will come off on your fingertips, too.

I don't know if this story is better than Hugo; since he's already written a book in this style, it won't strike anyone as new, and the story isn't any more or less resonant than Hugo. He does seem to have developed his talent for combining the two types of storytelling, so at the very least there's a sense of maturity to the story that, while Hugo doesn't lack, at least isn't quite as mature as this one. Anyone who enjoyed one, though, deserves to read the other, too. ...more

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Oct 06, 2011 Jess rated it really liked it

Shelves: reread, juv, historical-fiction, illustrated-novels, schneider-family-award

Wonderstruck seems to be "that book" this year - the one that everyone else gushes over but in which I can't see the same magic. Are the illustrations glorious at times? Is the interplay between the text-story and the picture-story beautifully paced? Yes, and yes. But - neither story felt emotionally resonant at the end. None of the characters leaped off the page as living, breathing people. There were some plot issues, which I won't get into for fear of spoilers, that distracted me from the pot ...more

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