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    The Search for WondLa
    The Search for WondLa
    The Search for WondLa
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Search for WondLa

    Written by Tony DiTerlizzi

    Narrated by Teri Hatcher

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Tony DiTerlizzi’s New York Times bestselling, richly illustrated The Search for Wondla series with this first installment of the modern classic space-age adventure featuring an all-new look.

    When a marauder destroys the underground sanctuary that Eva Nine was raised in by the robot Muthr, the twelve-year-old girl is forced to flee aboveground. Eva Nine is searching for anyone else like her: She knows that other humans exist because of an item she treasures—a scrap of cardboard on which is depicted a young girl, an adult, and a robot, with the strange word, “WondLa.” Can she find where she belongs?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateSep 21, 2010
    ISBN9781442334304
    Author

    Tony DiTerlizzi

    #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi has been creating children’s books for over twenty years. From fanciful picture books like The Spider & the Fly to chapter book series like the Search for WondLa, DiTerlizzi imbues his stories with a rich imagination. With Holly Black, he created the middle grade series the Spiderwick Chronicles, which has sold 20 million copies, been adapted into a feature film, and been translated in over thirty countries. The Norman Rockwell Museum’s exhibition “Never Abandon Imagination” featured artwork from the beginning of DiTerlizzi’s career as a contributing artist for Dungeons & Dragons and broke attendance records. He has been featured in Time magazine and USA TODAY and on CNN, PBS, NPR, the BBC, and the Today show.

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    Reviews for The Search for WondLa

    4/5

    42 ratings33 reviews

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    • 3/5
      3.5 stars.

      Eva Nine, the only human living in an underground sanctuary, is forced to go to the surface after an attack on her home.

      10-13 year olds who are fans of science fiction & fantasy will enjoy this book but I feel that for an adult reader there are too many classic tropes for it to be quite as gripping.

      DiTerlizzi is a good writer and an amazing illustrator (and it's cool that we get to see exactly what the author believes his creations to look like) but the story isn't strong enough to appeal to anyone much older than Eva Nine.

      There is plenty of action at the start and finish, but it does drag a bit in the middle. The hefty size of the book might deter some you readers but the print is relatively large, the chapters very short and it has several illustrations.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Although the kids and I liked the book well enough, I felt there was something missing - something I can't quite put my finger on. For some reason, I didn't quite connect with any of the main characters; that could have been part the problem. Looking at the world through Eva's eyes, having her be as uninformed about the world around her as I was, and there being no real explanation for a lot of the things she saw and experienced was a bit confusing at times; that could have been part of the problem as well. But I think the biggest problem was the fact that the ending really didn't make sense given what you know of Eva's life before the book opened. Maybe that discrepancy is going to be explained in the sequel; but at the moment, it was off putting enough that I'm not sure I care enough to check the sequel out. Maybe we'll read it; maybe we won't. Time will tell.
    • 5/5
      I used this book for story time with my students and we love it! They get so excited
    • 3/5
      A wonderful journey through a fantastical landscape. Its "Alice in Wonderful" for the next generation. Adding to the amusement - being able to interact with the book with "WondLa Vision"!
    • 3/5
      The one thing that saved this book from being rated "2 stars" was that it had one of the best villain killings I have read in a long time. It wasn't a long, drawn out, descriptive scene, but it was so very effective. It was very clever. Other than that, the book was pretty dull. Not my favorite book by DiTerlizzi.
    • 4/5
      A wondrous tale accompanied by impressive illustrations of a young girl who emerges from a high-tech bunker to a strange world unlike the one she has learned about.
    • 4/5
      Love the illustrations. My favorite part. I picked it up thinking it was fantasy -- the illustrations give off a strong fantasy vibe to me. But it's really sci-fi -- a good adventure/survival story. Not my taste, but it's a good book.
    • 3/5
      My daughter, having read this book that I gave her, asked me to read it because it was so good. I liked reading this -everything about it but the ending was fun. Thin ending, though, and along the way it did become a bit contrived. The main three characters were fun, though, and that goes a long way.
    • 4/5
      Eva Nine has only ever lived underground with her robot, Muther. All she wants is to learn enough about the surface of earth to be able to go aboveground. When her sanctuary is attacked, she must flee above, but without Muthr. As Eva tries to match what she has learned about Earth with the desolation and terrible creatures around, she wonders why she seems to be the only human...A good adventure story with, what seems like, predictable story extenders. The group is out of trouble for a few chapters and then is back into the enemy's clutches. I had a hard time with the safe/unsafe wheel the story seemed to travel on, but definitely cared about the characters and would like to read the next book (sometime).
    • 4/5
      I've been on a big young adult fiction kick lately, and I really enjoyed this book. The illustrations (which are amazing and wonderful) are what drew me in, and I bought the book purely for them. This book was a quick read, but I found it to be very engaging. There could have been more in the character development/backstory area, but I wasn't confused and I didn't feel gypped, just curious. I felt that the adventure moved at a very good pace, and I thought the world was easy to picture. The ending is a huge cliffhanger however, which annoys me, because rather than leave me thinking "Yes, there's more coming", I thought "WHAT? That's the end!?" I hate waiting for other books in the series when the one before ends on a part of the plot that should really be continued. Overally, I really enjoyed this book and the futuristic theme mixed with new breeds of animals that centered around evolutions of familiar underwater life.
    • 4/5
      I will admit, I am drawn to DiTerlizzi because of his phenomenal artistic abilities. His style of illustration is perfectly suited to my tastes, especially for children's literature, and I fell in love with his pictures when I read the Spiderwick series. When I saw this book featured on Amazon, his name is what grabbed my attention. This is a novel, though, and not a picture book; but when I read the synopsis, it sounded like a fascinating story, and the illustrations looked enticing. That last sentence, in essence, sums up my reaction to the book: it was a good story, just average writing but original concepts, and the illustrations were lovely and brought this rating up a level.The story follows Eva 9, a human girl who grew up underground in the Sanctuary with her robot mom, Muthr. She longs to explore the world outside, on the surface, but her Muthr insists she's not ready. When a hunter invades her home, Eva is forced to flee to the world she longed to visit, but without Muthr and without preparation. She discovers that things on the surface are not what she expected: none of her training or education corresponds to the flora, fauna, or geography she discovers up above. Even worse, the hunter continues to track her down.She meets Rovender Kitt, a solitary alien, and learns that he has never seen another human on the planet before. They travel together, trekking from one city to another, as they attempt to evade Besteel the hunter, find and rescue Muther, and ultimately learn what fate has befallen Eva's ancestors. The story alternates between exciting action sequences and chases, and more sedate scenes that explore the exotic terrain and probe Eva's coming of age. I thought that the author did a nice job balancing the exposition with the action. After all, this is a new planet that DiTerlizzi is describing, with a unique history and strange new species, and he needs narrative space to describe all these details to us. Still. he balances the revelations with a lot of excitement. I found this a fun and easy read.This book reminded me of old-school science fiction reads. The world is strange and exotic, it feels solid, like a real place; the story is dry when describing the setting, but that just feels right, because it's cataloging a new world. I thought the writing was adequate for a action-driven kids' story, and that the characters developed over the course of the narrative, and that the illustrations were admirable. It may not be my favorite new series, but I do look forward to completing the trilogy.
    • 5/5
      Even though the author puts together some ideas from other sci-fi/fantasy series I've read over the years, (and once you get to the end you realize the parallel journey with a very famous fantasy series), the imaginative new world and creatures detailed and beautifully illustrated throughout the book help propel you reading even more quickly.
    • 4/5
      We start off on an unknown planet with a girl and her robot. All she dreams of late is freedom and finding her own kind. An unexpected intruder to her underground Sanctuary forces her to leave the only shelter and family she has ever known. Escaping to the surface for the first time, Eva discovers that the freedom she had desired for so long comes with a large side of danger and a wallop of new experiences she cannot comprehend nor compute. An adventure in a strange foreign world with friendships tried and tested, a young girl's hopes and dreams may yet one day come true. The Search for Wondla is a highly imaginative and brilliantly illustrated story. The coming of age journey that Eva goes through was both endearing and heart warming. With a strong emphasis on family and friendships, a strange and exotic world, an ending that provides a perfect blend of resolution and twists to keep you wanting to find out what is going to happen in the subsequent book of the series, makes this a must read for science fiction fans out there. I can't recommend this book enough.
    • 4/5
      This was a fun book to read. I love picking up a middle grade level book and finding myself lost in a fantastic tale filled with magical creatures, robots and the thrill of danger.Eva Nine is a young, human girl being raised by Muthr, a robot, in a place called "Sanctuary". One day though, her world is thrown into chaos and she finds herself being tested to her limits.The illustrations, the way each part of the story is done and the progression of the storyline kept my interest and made me sad when the book finally ended. Do not be daunted by the size of this book, it's easily broken up and was full of action.If you are looking for a Christmas gift for a middle-schooler, I definitely recommend this book be put on the list. I can't wait until book two is released!
    • 4/5
      Beautiful book. I hope one day to read this to my son as an introduction to science fiction. Looking forward to the next one.
    • 5/5
      Loved, loved, loved this book! Eva Nine's journey completely drew me in. I cannot wait for the next book in the series...not until May of next year. :(
    • 5/5
      A new series by the genius storyteller Tony Diterlizzi of the Spiderwick Chronicles! Had to wait for my 10 year old daughter to read it before I could dive in. Upon finishing, she gave me two thumbs-up and a "best book I've ever read" (and she's a BIG BIG reader) proclamation. Without that, I would have wondered if the book wasn't too lonely and slow for a little reader . . . and OUT THERE! By out there, I mean original. You have to imagine and conceive every single thing in the book ecxept for the young (and only human) herself, until the very end. And the very end? Read it so we can talk about it's deliciousness!
    • 3/5
      It's one of the rare science fiction books written for children nowadays. Today's books are either half-comic diaries written for 3rd graders (I'm gonna write one too, it'll be called The Diary of a Blimpy Kid), or it's teen angst filled vampires and goth boys with dark eyebrows. Very little is what you would call speculative fiction. I have been impressed with the resurgence of "dystopian" worlds in the Young Adult section, although I have been a little hesitant to read them. The problem with writing most futuristic fiction is that you have to resist the urge to relate current political views with the outcome of mankind. It irks me when authors who are writing for entertainment decide to stick a platform from either party into a character. It usually sticks out like a sore thumb, turning an otherwise sympathetic character into a mechanical airhorn for a political party. And there have been some doosies in my reading. For instance, the Communist dragon in Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series. I stopped reading the book because of that. Or when Queen Amadala says, "And this is how freedom ends, with thunderous applause," during the newest Star Wars movies. And sometimes whole movies, like Avatar, are nothing but a platform for Environmental zealots, who are all anti-business and all for the government regulating everything. There are some recent books, like Brave Story, which I read a few months back, which has a little of that in it, but it's easy to overlook.It's one of the main complaints I have with The Search for WondLa, as Rovendeer, the traveling Jimmy Cricket that accompanies Eva Nine on her journey, sometimes becomes a chorus that says general statements about the bad guys that are actually supposed to be about us. The book itself, though, flows along quite nicely, with good plot twists and the usual "to be continued" thing at the end, as it's the beginning of a series. I read it quickly and easily, and would recommend it to any kid who liked Avatar, for instance, or Wall-E, which it was quite similar to, in theme. I always kept wondering, what would Orson Scott Card have done with this book? How much more depth and natural flow it would have had, even with the themes that were put in. As usual with children's books, it had a lot more potential. Of course, that's me talking, as the works of Card are books for adults that are about kids, and this book is a book for kids. How wonderful are those in which a balanced is reached.
    • 3/5
      Quite a delightful wee book with some beautiful illustrations and a relatively sweet plot, where friendship seemed to be one of the most important factors. The world was original and interesting, and the characters are charming. Ultimately, however, I think this is one better suited to a younger reader than I. The whole bounty-hunter-pursuing-heroes-through-everything gets a little tired after a while.
    • 5/5
      This is the first book in the WondLa trilogy. This was a wonderful middle grade sci-fi adventure. There are fantastic characters in here, the story is very well written and engaging, and I absolutely adored the beautiful illustrations throughout.Eva Nine has been raised in a subterranean Sanctuary, her only companion has been a robot named Muthr. Muthr has raised Eva for as long as Eva can remember. Eva?s greatest desire is to explore the surface of her planet. When Eva finally gets the opportunity to go up to the planet?s surface it is under dire circumstances. The planet has changed drastically from the one Muthr knew; it harbors great secrets and is home to some terrifying creatures.The illustration in this book is absolutely stunning. I loved the pictures of Eva and her adventures throughout. It?s just so beautiful and really helps the reader imagine some of the more fantastical settings. The characters are amazing too. Muthr is amazingly caring for a robot. The other characters Eva meets on the surface are just as fantastic. Rovee is a blue fish/humanoid type creature that has suffered great loss of his own and seems to find a kindred spirit and a purpose as he journeys with Eva. Otto is an absolutely adorable elephant sized alien that forms a strange connection with Eva and provides excellent assistance on her journey. I loved how caring the friends were towards each other and how they faced many challenges by supporting each other.The adventure is amazing too. There are so many fantastic landscapes, locations, and creatures throughout this book. It was just an amazing and highly entertaining adventure. There is humor in here too, which I always enjoy.Overall I absolutely adored this book. I immediately went out and got the second book in the series. This book is full of amazing characters, exciting adventure, and incredibly creative creatures and lands. The illustration throughout just makes the book all that more spectacular. Highly recommended to everyone, but especially to fans of middle grade sci-fi and adventure.
    • 1/5
      I wish I had better things to say about this book. Of course the illustrations are gorgeous, but writing is not Mr. DiTerlizzi's strength. I imagine Spiderwick worked so well is because someone else wrote the story and he illustrated it.

      I wish his editor had taken a red pen to about 3/4 of the adjectives he used. The descriptions were so incredibly detailed, with sometimes two or three adjectives, the story takes much too long to tell. Sadly, I think his fame hurt him in this case because it was accepted for publication much too early. If a lot more work had been put into the language of the story, it might have been an incredible book.

      The only thing that (might) entice me to finish is the gorgeousness of the illustrations. If I do keep plugging away, I'll most likely skim the text and enjoy the illustrations. It's very disappointing.
    • 2/5
      It's a very imaginative story and I think Teri Hatcher did a nice job with the narration (nice clear voice, distinct and appropriate voices). But. Normally, I appreciate a realistic kid character, but it just didn't seem like Eva 9 EVER did anything on her own. Pretty much the whole time I thought Eva 9 was such a whiny brat that I kept rooting for various characters to take her out. That's just how I feel. Kids will be more forgiving of Eva 9 and I'd hand it to kids who are voracious readers of epic fantasy and science fiction.
    • 3/5
      BEWARE: Potential spoilers in this one! Read at your own risk![The Search for WondLa] by Tony DiTerlizziThe main thought I had at the close of this children's novel was "huh, that wasn't as good as it should have been." I feel this needs a little explanation. First, let's understand why I expected it to be totally fabulous: the novel, even just its look, is tantalizing. DiTerlizzi is, at heart, an illustrator, so the images that populate this novel are beautiful, brilliant, and done in an old-fashioned limited color style (which I have forgotten the name of) that adds to their appeal. The visual concept of the book as a whole -- including fonts and formatting -- is both deliciously antique and temptingly sci-fi. It's a deceptively thick novel, because of the frequent illustrations, so it seems at first glance to have lots of room for things like character development. It also, at first glance, looks like a book that can stand on its own -- it is not. The sequel is forthcoming and this first installment cuts off at a key cliffhanging moment.In addition, the book is -- from the beginning -- an obvious homage to both [The Wizard of Oz] and [Alice in Wonderland], so one expects an old-fashioned fantasy adventure in similar vein and to a similar standard as those books. This is science fiction more than fantasy, in some ways, so "old-fashioned" is a relative term here, but the novel does achieve that tone in many ways. Unfortunately, it does not achieve the sort of depth one wishes for. That may be because the series has far to go or perhaps because DiTerlizzi is a better illustrator than a writer and really needs a partner here (his best work, in my opinion, has been with collaborators). For whatever reason, throughout the novel, the reader is pursued by the sense that there should be something more. Not the "oh, gee, I wonder" sense, but rather the "wait, did I just miss a page?" sense. Until that sense intrudes, reading this novel is pleasant, but the shallowness makes itself known at least once a chapter, so it's hard to escape. In particular, characters in the novel, without the depth they deserve, quickly degenerate into types and icons rather than relatable people: we have, of course, the Alice/Dorothy type, but also the Caterpillar, the Tin Man, the Gentle Giant, and a villain who is merely a collection of traits with an underdeveloped backstory. Once again, the images of these figures are imaginative and fascinating -- I love the look DiTerlizzi creates for each of them -- but the writing that surrounds each does not do them proper justice. DiTerlizzi is heading for both political and environmental commentary here, but by the time the reader gets to the (SPOILER ALERT!) patently Planet of the Apes conclusion, things have gotten too stereotypical for one to really care. Like most literature, this is an amalgam of things that have come before, so I cannot lay the "unorginal" label on this -- what is "original" anyway? -- but I do wish that DiTerlizzi had built the same luster and detail into writing the characters as he did into drawing them, so that the bones of others weren't quite so visible through their written skin. Will I read the sequel? Probably. I do want to know how it all turns out and the book feels and looks good as one reads it, so there is enough pleasure here to motivate me to keep going. Unfortunately, as with many things, what pleasure there is could have been so much more. Wasted potential is sometimes more frustrating for the reader than true worthlessness.
    • 4/5
      Nominally a book for 9+/11+ according to LoveReading but much like Harry Potter, this is too good to be left just for kids. Its a fantastic book by one of the creators of The Spiderwick Chronicles (which is also a fab book by the way). Its about a human girl, Eva, who lives in an underground sanctuary with her robot muthr (correct spelling!). Having never left the underground sanctuary her life is thrown into turmoil by a hunter who breaks in and tries to capture Eva. What then transpires is an archetypal "road movie" as Eva, her mother and a couple of aliens Eva befriend go on a journey to find other humans like Eva. Its well written and being a kids book very easy to read, the characters are excellent. The book doesn't really tread new ground but its just a really excellent read whether you are a kid or a grown up.
    • 5/5
      This was an incredible story. It's science fiction being presented as a fairy tale. I truly loved the entire story. It took me quite a while to read, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Eva Nine is a really cool character, as were Rovender Kitt and Muthr. My favorite character was Otto the water bear, so gentle and loyal. What a great book!
    • 4/5
      The ending was a bit flat but the illustrations are great and the action is non-stop.
    • 2/5
      i know everyone loves this book and says it's like the bae, but i really didn't enjoy it. It seemed like the author was just dragging out the plot to make the book longer.
    • 4/5
      Eva Nine is forced to leave her home when it is attacked by a hunter. She leaves her home and goes to the surface of the planet for the first time in her entire life. Eva, her Muthr robot, Rovender Kit and Otto (two friends she makes along the way) end up going on an epic journey to try and find other human's. Along the way they encounter many different people and creatures that Eva and Muthr have never seen and you get to see Eva, Rovender and Muthr's relationship grow and change which I am always a huge fan of.

      I don't know what it was about this book but it constantly had me thinking of Star Wars (although once I got to the end I very clearly saw the relationship this book has with the Wizard of Oz.)

      Terri Hatcher did a great job reading this book. Her voices for the characters and the narrator were spot on and I really enjoyed listening to it.
    • 4/5
      Oh, my goodness! So much fun. So much suspense. Great characters. I wasn't sure what to expect from this. I was happy.
    • 4/5
      Twelve-year-old Eva Nine has spent her entire life living in Sanctuary, an underground compound where she is cared for by the motherly robot, Muthr (Multi-Utility Task Help Robot). She's never met another human nor visited the surface and she longs to do both, dreaming of a world - and of the companionship and love to be found there - that she's only seen glimpses of on scraps of paper. When Sanctuary is attacked, Eva is forced to escape to the surface alone, where she soon finds that the reality of life there is more amazing and puzzling than she ever imagined. It is also far more dangerous. We share Eva's wonder and astonishment as she views the night sky for the first time and understand her fear when she first feels the heat of the sun on her skin and panics, thinking it will burn her. And it is those two things - wonder and fear - that drive much of the story. Eva is smart and brave, caring, curious and resourceful, but she is also young and inexperienced. The controlled amounts of knowledge that have been passed down to her prove to be woefully inadequate as well as either inaccurate or deliberately false (or perhaps a mixture of the two). It seems that everything Eva sees and experiences just leave her (and us) with more questions. Author Tony DiTerlizzi has done a very good job of allowing readers to share Eva's confusion and to be in on each discovery right along with her. Because I found Eva so likeable and engagingly real, I really cared about her and wanted to share her journey as she sought to discover just who, what and where she is. Though I found the writing just a bit clunky at times and occasionally wished for the pace to pick up (possibly because I really, REALLY wanted to know what was going to happen!), my connection to Eva kept me involved in the story and certainly kept me turning the pages. Lavishly illustrated (again by DiTerlizzi, whose artwork I so admired in Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You, The Search for WondLa is also beautiful to look at. Through the art, DiTerlizzi not only shows us Eva's world, but beautifully conveys her wonder and curiosity as she discovers it. The drawings add tremendously to the whole, making The Search for WondLa not just a book but an experience. The conclusion led me to believe that at least one sequel is planned (or had darned well better be). I'm already anxiously awaiting it. Recommended. Note: A very attractive website has been created for this book. There, readers can try out "WondLa-Vision" by holding certain pages of the book up to their webcam which activates an interactive 3D map. I don't have a webcam, so can't explore WondLa-Vision, but the demo on the website certainly looks intriguing! Visitors can also read or listen to an excerpt, play some games and download wallpapers, etc. This is a book website done right and I recommend a visit. Paramount reportedly has optioned the film rights.