The Wonder

This debut book by Faye Hanson looks inside the mind of one creative and imaginative boy. His head is full of wonder –where birds are flying, who makes the clouds, whether the lollipop lady’s sign tastes as orange as it looks, what the best playground in the world might be like, and how the stars shine. Before his day has scarcely begun he finds himself in trouble for daydreaming from every adult he meets. But then he goes to his art lesson…

There, he’s told just to use his imagination. And finally, given free rein and permission, he pours out his dreams onto paper – flying with the birds, soaring around cloud makers, and on to join the galaxy makers where he helps to polish each shining star.

This is definitely a book of two halves; the first (when he is constantly being told to stop daydreaming) in sepia and the second (when his imagination runs riot) in glorious colour. The colour and detail are almost overwhelming in their intensity and provide plenty of stimulus for the reader’s own sense of wonder.

This is a book to celebrate. I found the grumbling, barking and severe adults in the child’s life a little offputting (not like any lollipop lady I’ve ever met) and the suggestion that only art teachers care about creativity worrying, but in the cause of contrast, maybe it’s necessary. That said, this is a must have book for anyone with a sense of wonder about the everyday things of our world.