Wonder written by R.J. Palacio

   

           Have you or someone you know ever befriended a person who is labeled, as retarded, ugly, or they don’t fit in because of a disability? Ever wondered what the person who is deemed as retarded, ugly, or disabled might be going through in their everyday life that includes getting constant stares and being ignored. Well here is a fiction book that I would recommend for you about a boy that is deformed and is considered a freak by those who see him.

The book, Wonder, written by R.J. Palacico, is about a boy name August (Auggie).  Now, Auggie is not your typical average fifth grade boy. Why? Auggie was born with a cleft lip. Basically, after Auggie was born with deformed face, the outcome was having a lot of face surgeries to make the face look normal, unfortunately for Auggie, his face looks like a zombie due to surgical scaring. Sadly, throughout Auggie’s life, he was constantly stared and ignored from children his age to adults who could not stand to look at his deformed face. During summer break, Auggie’s parents decided to stop homeschooling him and decided to admit their son to a regular school in  fifth grade (middle school). Basically, Auggie’s world has turned upside down for two reasons. First, he knew if he attended regular school for the first time where he  knew he would not look like the rest of the kids. Therefore, there would be constant staring, being ignored, and bullied. Second, he knew he would not have any friends because of the way that he looked.  Overall, that is the whole plot of the story to Wonder.

Now on to how the story was written, the story is broken up into eight parts. First, in Part One, Auggie tells his story about how he was born with a cleft lip and went through tons of face surgeries as a kid to make his face look “normal”. Next, Part Two Auggie’s big sister, Olivia (Via), tells her story about how her life is like living with Auggie. Via has always been labeled as the girl with a deformed brother at school. When she entered high school and how life is slightly better since hardly anyone there knows about Auggie.. After that, Part Three one of Auggie’s classmates and friend, Summer, tells her story about Auggie. Basically, Summer tells her story about how she met Auggie and how she sees Auggie as a great friend. Following that, Part Four is told by another classmates and friend of Auggie’s, Jack Will. Overall, Jack Will tells his story about how he and Auggie met and how they eventually became friends. Right after that, in Part Five, Via’s boyfriend, Justin, tells his story about dating Via and meeting Auggie for the first time.  Afterward, in Part Six  Auggie tells more about himself, again. Towards the end, Part Seven, Via’s ex-best friend, Miranda, tells about how she lied at summer camp (as a junior counselor) about how Auggie was her brother. Also, how she and Via were no longer friends. Last but not least, in Part Eight, Auggie tells is story about how his first  year went overall attending regular school.   

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Wonder because I loved how R.J. Palacio developed each character into her book. Each character had their own way of telling their own version and story of Auggie and how he has made an impact in their lives. Therefore, if you enjoy an overall feel good book about the main character that looks different from everybody else but can make a huge impact on them, then I suggest you buy/borrow this book, read it, and then wait for the movie to hit theaters this fall. 

Here is a link to IMDB about the movie Wonder: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543472/

Trivia Questions: 

1) What happened at Auggie's school that made him want to quit going to school? Why did he go back? 

2) Why didn't Via not want to tell her family about being in the school play? 

3) What was the number one personality trait that everyone liked about Auggie? 

Palacio, R. J. Wonder. New York : Knopf, 2012. Print.

"Wonder (2017) ." IMDB. IMDB.com, 21 Feb. 2017. Web. 27 July 2017. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543472/>.