This week on the podcast, we're taking listeners to the Queens Museum! Scholastic Reads host Suzanne McCabe and I attended a special event honoring the Panorama of the City of New York exhibit and the new movie Wonderstruck, based on the bestselling novel by Brian Selznick.
The Panorama, in case you're unfamiliar, is a miniature to-scale model of New York City that was built for the 1964-1965 World's Fair. The exhibit features prominently in Wonderstruck — in both the book and the movie, one of the main characters, Rose, is one of the women who worked on the exhibit, and a pivotal scene uniting the two main characters happens at the exhibit itself.
Brian Selznick is a delight to listen to as he talks about his love for New York, the research that went into respectfully and accurately representing the deaf experience, and his friendship with Maurice Sendak.
Later on in the episode, Suzanne also talks with Louise Weinberg, one of the curators at the Queens Museum who is an expert in the history of the Panorama. She walks us through what day-to-day life was like for the workers who built the model.
Pop your headphones in and give it a listen here! And be sure to watch the trailer for the Wonderstruck movie, which releases in theaters everywhere on November 10!
