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Wonderstruck (novel)Wonderstruck (2011) is an American young-adult fiction novel written and illustrated by Brian Selznick, who also created The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007). In Wonderstruck, Selznick continued the narrative approach of his last book, using both words and illustrations � though in this book he separates the illustrations and the writings into their own story and weaves them together at the end.

Plot
Ben
Ben�s story starts in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota in June 1977. He was born deaf in his left ear. Ben�s mom, Elaine, the town librarian, died in a car crash. He now lives with his aunt and uncle 83 steps from the house in which he grew up. Ben never knew his dad, but feels a pull to find out who he was. Ben discovers that his dad died and finds a bookmark in his mother's book, Wonderstruck, inscribed to his mother that ends with the words "Love, Danny." Ben thinks Danny must have been his father and proceeds to call the number listed on the bookmark. As he is calling, a bolt of lightning strikes his house, travels through the phone line, and causes him to lose his remaining hearing. He wakes up in the hospital, unaware of where he is. A short time later, he runs away from the hospital and journeys to New York City, eventually hiding out in the American Museum of Natural History. While at the museum, he meets Jamie, whose father works at the museum. Jamie takes him on tours of the back areas of the museum and helps him to hide in an unused storage room. Ben is still determined to track down his father, so he leaves the museum to locate the bookstore listed on the bookmark he found in his mother's book that was written by his father. Once there, he encounters Rose and they try to piece together how they might be connected.

Rose
Rose's story starts in Hoboken, New Jersey in October 1927. She is kept at home, with visits from a tutor, because she is deaf. Unhappy and lonely at home, she runs away to New York City to see actress Lillian Mayhew. In New York, Rose travels to the theater where Lillian Mayhew is performing. She sneaks in, and is found by the actress herself, who we learn is actually Rose's mother. Mayhew is furious, despite Rose telling her that she came on her own. Mayhew intends to send Rose back to her father, so she locks Rose in her dressing room. Rose escapes and flees to the American Museum of Natural History. She is found there by her brother, Walter. He takes her back to his apartment and promises to speak to their parents. She then finds Ben and the stories connect. Rose is Ben's grandmother.

1977
In 1977, we see a mature Rose entering a bookstore where she meets Ben. Rose is Ben's grandmother, and Danny was both Rose's son and Ben's father. Rose takes Ben to Queens, and leads him into the Queens Museum of Art where she tells her story. She tells Ben how Danny met Ben's mother, and how he died from heart failure. Rose then shows Ben an extremely detailed miniature New York City that she hand-made for the "World's Fair" in New York, in 1964.

The book ends with the 1977 blackout. Ben and Rose look at the stars while waiting for Walter to pick them up.

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