Wonderstruck

Ben is on a bus headed for New York City. He falls in and out of sleep. Eventually, he notices a stillness around him and wakes. He looks out the window.

In Rose’s story, illustrations show an intricate “Welcome to New York” sign. People are bustling through the city, and Rose is among them with her small suitcase. She looks up at the buildings in awe. She comes upon a newspaper stand, where she sees that Lillian Mayhew is opening on stage in New York the next day. She gets on a bus.

Ben gets off the bus, with no idea the time of day. Everything was dingy and dark in the station. He followed a rush of people outside, thinking about his lost hearing: “They ran so many tests at the hospital and discovered the lightning had damaged his ear drum […] What would life be like if his hearing never came back?” (243).

Rose rushes off the bus in front of the theatre, where Lillian Mayhew’s name is in lights. She sneaks through a stage door in the back of the theatre and makes her way toward the stage. She finally sees her idol, and illustrations show a close-up of Lillian’s face.