The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman, 368 pages

  What a pleasant surprise of a book! Yes, it is about a museum, but it’s also full of more than I could have guessed!

  I was happily surprised to discover that this is the story of New York City at the beginning of the 20^th Century. It was a time before U.S. laws that protected laborers, children, and people with disabilities, back when parents could easily prevent their children from going to school, when women and children could fairly easily be sold by their families, when electricity and indoor plumbing were not yet standard amenities, when fire hoses were a recent invention, and when the city was quickly absorbing wilderness lands where early settlers lived.

  Coralie’s father owns the Museum of Extraordinary Things; on her tenth birthday, she realizes that she is a living wonder to be displayed. Towering, lanky Eddie (a 25-year-old photo journalist) comes to the city as little Ezekiel, fleeing the Jewish pogroms in Ukraine that left his village and mother as burned ashes. The story brings other memorable characters to life as well, including a hermit and his wolf friend, a Jewish finder of lost love, a wolf man, a beautiful Irish woman who has been burned beyond recognition, and immigrant garment makers who are locked into their workplaces for up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week while being paid wages that keep them on the verge of starvation. The book is an interesting mix of historical truth, a fictional murder mystery, a love story, fascinating descriptions of living and non-living museum wonders, and young people and a city transitioning into new times.

  I would have been happiest to read through the pages at a faster pace than my drive times allowed me to listen to the audio version. The version I heard was well read by Judith Light, Grace Gummer, and Zach Appleman. I would not only recommend this book, but I already have urged my husband to listen to the audiobook that I had checked out. I treated myself to a second listen while he enjoyed the unfolding tale for the first time.