Wonder Paperback – International Edition, July 7, 2022

As a sixth grade teacher, I struggle daily with the challenge of encouraging my students to sympathize and empathize with one another and show each other kindness. When I heard the NPR author interview with RJ Palacio, I knew I needed to read this book right away. I could not be more thrilled with my purchase, which I whole-heartedly intend to use in my classroom as soon as possible.As other reviewers have said, Wonder is chiefly about a boy named Auggie Pullman who has a cranio-facial abnormality. He's been home schooled up until fifth grade by his doting, if a bit overprotective, mother. Now he is starting school--but not just any school... middle school. You know--the number 1, most feared and reviled period of any person's life. Auggie encounters fear and bullying, but also kindness and friendship.The story is told from several different points of view, each which add to the richness of the book and create a three-dimensional view of what tween-dom is really like. We hear from Auggie, who is our hero but also the victim of cruelty and bullying. We hear from his sister who feels abandoned by her mother and friends as well as resentment toward her needy brother. There is the voice of the child who does the "right" thing when witnessing how cruel the other kids are. Then we hear the point of view of the kid who stood idly by and even partook in the bullying so that he wouldn't be ostracized. Each character's experience rang true to me and as I was reading I was actually thinking about individual students of mine who might connect with each character.The real draw of the story is that it is masterfully written and totally engaging. It is funny at times, but I also cried at least twice while reading. I read the entire book in one sitting. Palacio does a great job of building the characters in the book and making you care about them. It isn't preachy, though the moral is very clear right from the start. Occasionally the mother character read to me as being a little heavy-handed in doling out "the right thing to do," but that is certainly not a criticism worth throwing the book out over. This is also a book that is written in a style that would be easy enough for upper elementary school to read, but has content that is engaging for middle school students. I was certainly engaged and (this is my super secret) I don't really like most "middle school" books.If there is a drawback to this book it might be the "geek culture" references, which are very topical. The Star Wars talk might be here to stay, but references to specific video games and some of the kid slang ground this book to a very specific time period. Mad props for the Magnetic Field and Polyphonic Spree references, which I imagine are more there for the adults reading than the kids. I also recognize that this is a book about a pretty specific group of kids--private schooled, New Yorkers-- which might seem to be from another world to my rural students.Still, I can not think of a single one of my sixth graders who would not benefit from reading this book. I see so many connection to my students lives through the characters of Auggie, Via, Jack, Summer, Miranda, Justin and the rest of the group. There's enough humor and pathos that I think that most of my students would enjoy this book. I'm going to have to wait until it's in paperback to get a class set, but I am going to HIGHLY recommend it to them.

Ten year old August “Auggie’” Pullman lives with his dad Nate, mom Isabel, older sister Olivia (Via), and pet dog Daisy in the North River Heights community of Manhattan, NY. While he thinks of himself as an ordinary kid who likes Star Wars and Xbox, Auggie was born with "mandibulofacial dysotosis," often equated with Treacher Collins syndrome, a facial disfigurement that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. His jarring facial anomalies and the 27 surgeries to deal with them have caused him to be what some call “deformed” and others a “freak.” As a result, he has been homeschooled all his life, but his parents now think that it is time for him to head to a regular school for fifth grade and enroll him at Beecher Prep Middle School. He makes some friends like Jack Will, Charlotte Cody, and Summer Dawson, but also some enemies like Julian Albans.Meanwhile, Via is having her own difficulties adjusting to high school, estrangement from her best friend Miranda Navas, and a new boyfriend named Justin. The story begins with Auggie’s point of view, but the plot is carried on from there by his sister, a couple of his classmates, Via’s boyfriend, and Miranda. Will Auggie make it through fifth grade? How is his relationship with his sister affected? And what happens to Auggie and his friends at the fifth grade three day nature retreat in Pennsylvania? Author R. J. Palacio, pen name of Raquel Jaramillo, wrote Wonder after an incident where she and her three-year-old son were waiting in line to buy ice cream. Her son noticed a girl with a severe facial deformity and started to cry. There are a few references to farting and peeing and some childish kidding about names like Mr. Tushman or Miss Butt, but beyond this, the terms “O God” and “O Lord” are commonly used as interjections.However, the book has a powerful message that promotes tolerance and opposes bullying. It has won a number of awards. We recently watched the Lionsgate film adaptation directed by Stephen Chbosky, written by Steve Conrad and Jack Thorne, and starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Tremblay, that was released in 2017. We enjoyed it so much that I wanted to read the novel. A few critics didn’t like it, saying that “it's just not a totally believable story,” and that “none of the characters ring true.” The movie is a little easier to follow because it carries the story straight through rather than jumping between different narrators, but, while the book may not be perfect, I tend to agree with the reviewer who wrote, ”It's well-written, engaging, and so much fun to read that the pages almost turn themselves. More than that, Wonder touches the heart in the most life-affirming, unexpected ways, delivering in August Pullman a character whom readers will remember forever."