Wonderstruck

In the illustrations that begin the section, wolves run in the dark, panting, their tongues out. There is a close-up of the eye of one wolf, which fills the page until only the pupil is visible. It looks like the moon in the night sky.

Ben wakes from a dream about running wolves, panting. His cousin Robby has thrown a shoe at him because he was yelling in his sleep. Robby mocks Ben for being deaf in one ear before rolling over and going back to sleep. It is the middle of the night, but Ben can hear his Uncle Steve and Aunt Jenny talking outside about selling his mother’s house. Ben had gone back to that house only rarely after the funeral a few months before: “[T]he more time passed, the more afraid he was to walk through the front door again without his mother there to greet him on the other side” (19). Ben wonders what will happen to all his family’s things if they sell the house. Aunt Jenny asks to keep it for a bit longer. Ben feels relieved.

Before falling back asleep, Ben takes out a small, locked box of mementoes and opens it.