In the metaphorical Wonder House, each “room” is dedicated to a different theme or topic: curiosity, praise, ordinary things, creatures, nature, science, time, place, quiet, imagination, mystery, and wishes. Two to four poems explore each theme in ways that are both complementary and contrasting. In the Room of Nature, Heard writes, “Thunder drums the skin of sky / striking / an / electric / scar / from cloud to cloud.” Dotlich describes rain in the forest, where “my feet balance on a tangle / of puzzled roots in a wilderness of secrets” and “raindrops speak small lullabies …” In the Room of Science, an entomologist “studies whirligig beetles twirling / like tiny bumper cars that never touch” (Heard) while Dotlich’s haiku preserves the “scribbles of old gold” inside a crystal. The artful yet exacting imagery across the poems, paired with the imaginative possibilities the volume can inspire, is itself a wonder. A brief note encourages readers and listeners to value the role of wonder and their own power as wonderers in this fresh, lovely volume featuring illustrations that combine delicate renderings of concrete images with beautiful washes of color that shift from one “room” (page spread) to the next. (Ages 7-10)

This collection of poems, creatively presented in the format of an allegorical house, will engage anyone who has ever wondered “why?” as it shows young readers that wonder is everywhere—in yourself and in the world around you.

Welcome to the Wonder House, a place to explore the cornerstone of every great thinker—a sense of wonder. This Wonder House has many rooms—one for nature, one for quiet, and one for mystery, among others. Each room is filled with poems and objects covering a wide variety of STEAM topics, including geology, paleontology, physics, astronomy, creative writing, and drawing, that will inspire curiosity in young readers.

This enchanting book written by award-winning poets Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Georgia Heard both sparks wonder and shows readers how to kindle it in themselves.