The Wonder

Description

This is a story about a boy whose head is always full of wonder. We follow him on an average-seeming school day, where his daydreams transform the world around him. Unfortunately lots of other people - the park keeper, the bus driver, the lollipop lady - all tell him to get his head out of the clouds. It is only in art class that he realises he can bring the wonder out of his head for the whole world to enjoy.

Faye Hanson graduated from Cambridge School of Art in 2008. Her first book, a novelty title called The Wychwood Fairies was published in 2010 and she is already working on a follow-up. The Wonder is her picture book debut.

For the daydreamers, the storytellers and the creators, The Wonder is a book full of fantasy that explores the joy and the power of the imagination. -- The Illustrated Forest * www.theillustratedforest.com * On the front of this book it says "This is a boy whose head is filled with wonder." The book takes us inside his head and world of imagination.It is such a beautiful book to look at. Mya and I both took a lot of time looking at each page to take in the sumptuous illustrations. The story is about a boy who has an amazing imagination which is not ways appreciated by grown-ups. Until he is given permission by his art teacher to use his imagination.Mya adored this book and was hugging it! She enjoyed spotting the boy in the last half of the book when we get to see his thoughts come alive on the paper. Mya's first reaction was "where are all his friends?" This is answered later on. There is also a helter skelter type of slide on one page and Mya said "I would say weeeee on that!"Mya summed up the book by saying "it's amazing!"This was such an enjoyable book to read and talk about together. Definitely a book that left us wanting to climb inside to join the fun too. -- Teri and Mya Smyth * Guardian Witness * Do you remember being told to stop daydreaming when you were a child? Do you remember being told to pay more attention to things around you, to stop staring at the window, to stop having your head in the clouds?The little boy in this story loves to use his imagination, much to the dismay of most adults around him. Until his art teacher puts a blank piece of paper in front of him and asks him to let his imagination run wild.What a splendid book The Wonder is; it encapsulates the power of imagination in childhood and how it contrasts with some adults' jaded attitude perfectly, thanks to an enlightened use of colour. The choice of colours allows young readers to follow two parallel narratives: in sepia tones, what is happening in "real" life and in vibrant colours aplenty, what is happening in the boy's imagination. It is so effective, and so beautiful, it could easily be a wordless book and still retain its meaning.Young readers will not fail to notice that real life does indeed feed the imagination as the scenes of his daily stroll can be spotted in his artwork.The Wonder carries an important message about not curbing children's need to have their imagination go free. It also brings a potent reminder about the importance of art in education, at a time when artistic subjects seem constantly threatened and claimed to be worthless. -- Melanie McGilloway * www.librarymice.com *