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Title: Wonderstruck

Author and Illustrator: Brian Selznick

Summary: It is 1977. Ben likes to collect things. Some are treasures his mom has given to him. Others are things he has found growing up in Gunflint, Michigan. But Ben just lost his mom in a car accident and is living with his aunt and uncle. When he returns to his old home, he discovers in his mother’s things a book about the American Museum of Natural History called Wonderstruck, inscribed to someone David. Could this be the father he has never met? Ben decides to find out.

It is 1927. Rose lives a lonely, isolated life in Hoboken, New Jersey. She longs to cross the river into bustling New York City. She, like Ben, is missing something in her life and she is determined to find it. The way these two stories interweave, one in words, the other in pictures, will suprise and delight you.

I’ll admit it: I love The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It was Fairfield’s One Book One Town book a few years ago and it’s creator, Brian Selznick, might be the most charming author around. So I picked up Wonderstruck with a mixture of excitment and nervous anticipation. Would it be as good as Hugo? The answer is clear: Yes. Yes, yes, yes! Read this book right now.

Who will like this book?: Everybody. Seriously.

If you like this, try this: The Invention of Hugo Cabret, also by Selznick. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. Pieces of Georgia by Jen Bryant.

Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian