You might recall author and illustrator extraordinaire Brian Selznick from his magnificent The Adventures of Hugo Cabret, a masterpiece of a children's book inspired by Georges Méliès, the first "cinemagician," and currently being made into a film by Martin Scorsese.
Today, Selznick is back with his much-anticipated Wonderstruck, which tells the parallel stories of Ben and Rose, two children trying to find their place of belonging in the world. One story takes place is 1977 and is told in text, the other in 1927 and is told in pictures. The two narratives weave back and forth, in Selznick's signature style of intricate and ephemeral pencil sketches, to converge into a single story in the end.
But this is no ordinary 12-page children's book -- like Selznick's previous tome, the mesmerizing 600-page volume weighs in at nearly three pounds and features hundreds of his original illustrations, whose intricate details exude incredible thoughtfulness and truthfulness to the era, bound to leave any adult, indeed, wonderstruck.
I really love working with a great amount of detail, I love doing research, I love making sure that every inch of the drawing has a reason to exist. It's a very immersive experience to be inside the time period, having done all this research. --Brian Selznick