Each of the books that I present to you from Peques and Más we have read at home: those that seem to be aimed at babies, those of adventures and those of mystery, books on children's education, and those that make us jump the heart of emotion because they tell touching and authentic stories.
For us, reading is a way of approaching other worlds, of discovering other ways of living, of knowing people, of learning, of ... With 'Wonders' I have discovered that I do not need to reread it while I tell you about it, it is the only one (and not because it is simpler than others) that has been completely recorded in my memory, the only one that with remembering the sensations that produced me, I can reproduce without more.
Wonders' is a fantastic book written by Brian Selznick (and edited in 2012 by SM), which in its last pages hides a little surprise (Small compared to the great adventure of reading). Ben and Rose are two children who live their childhood 50 years apart, but that distance it is not enough for the reader to unlink the parallel stories who introduce us to two little ones who 'seek their place in the world'.
Of course: when we link the story of Ben and Rose, each in its own narrative format, we hardly imagine that what unites them is much more than illustrations that seem to complement (only seem) the text.
Two stories converge in Wonders: that of Ben, a young orphan who lives in Minnesota in 1977, who begins the search for his unknown father; and Rose's, a deaf mute girl from New Jersey who in 1927 embarks on the adventure of meeting a New York actress. After a series of adventurous sets of destiny, both stories coincide in reality in an endearing way
Ben's story is that of a boy who will soon be a teenager, a boy who fights the pain of his mother's death, hoping that the few pieces of the past found in his house will lead him to a father who never He met. The difficulties encountered during the trip are not few, but A stubborn and persevering character guides your emotions and your steps.
Rose is angry with her mother because she prefers to reach the peak of success rather than taking care of her, and with her father, because she is obstinate in hiring a private teacher to learn sign language. A special gift will lead her to make great creations in the future, but first, he must look for his older brother the Museum of Natural History in New York.
The stories of both are intertwined throughout the book to merge into a story about friendship, life, communication, the universe ... and other wonders
According to Brian Selznick, the story of Wonders occurred to him when a friend who worked at the Museum of Natural History in New York took him to know the "backroom" of the museum. Later, while writing Hugo Cabret's invention, Selznick watched a documentary called Through Deaf Eyes about the history of deaf culture in the United States. Those two themes, along with many other wonders of daily life, they grew inside to crystallize in this book.
It is a thick book, and although much of its pages are occupied by beautiful and descriptive illustrations, the text does not detract and transmit beyond words. It will not take your children more than one or two weeks to read it (if they are over eight years old), although they may have to wait - as it happened to us - for dad or mom to finish it. When you all finish, you will be celebrating that Ben no longer dreams of wolves, and that Rose's present has recomposed his past ...
The surprise I was talking about? I loved it (and I know it may seem trivial) that Brian has dedicated 'Wonders' to Maurice Sendak, surely a tribute to one of the greats of children's literature, and perhaps coinciding with his recent death.
