Wonderstruck

Wonderstruck

• Genre: Fiction; young adult graphic novel
• Originally Published: 2011
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 830L; grades 5-9
• Structure/Length: 3 parts; approx. 640 pages
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: One of this novel’s intertwined stories, narrated in text, begins in 1977, when a deaf boy named Ben travels from Minnesota to New York City to look for his father after his mother’s death. The other story, told in pictures, follows another young deaf person, Rose, as she looks for her mother in New York City in 1927.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Death of a parent, parental neglect

Brian Selznick, Author and Illustrator

• Bio: Born 1966 in New Jersey; graduated from Rhode Island School of Design; won Caldecott Medal (2008) for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, on which the Oscar-winning film Hugo (2011) was based; has worked as a puppeteer; was inspired by the work of Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) in writing Wonderstruck; wrote screenplay for the movie adaptation of Wonderstruck (2017); lives with his husband in San Diego and Brooklyn
• Other Works: The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007); The Marvels (2015); Kaleidoscope (2021); Big Tree (2022)
• Awards: Publishers Weekly Best Book (2011); Booklist Editors’ Choice (2011); Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Book (2011); School Library Journal Best Book (2011); ALA Schneider Family Book Award (2012)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Sound and Silence
• The Quest to Belong
• Collection and Curation

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the social and historical contexts regarding family stories that incite Ben’s conflict.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Sound and Silence, The Quest to Belong, and Collection and Curation.
• Assemble and share a museum box that expresses one’s own character traits, comparing these with Ben’s character traits as depicted in the text.
• Analyze and evaluate plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding Rose’s illustrations, collections, and other topics.