Wonder
Wonder is a children's novel written by R. J. Palacio,[2] published on 14 February 2012.
R. J. Palacio wrote Wonder after an incident where her son noticed a girl with a severe facial difference and started to cry. Fearing he would react badly, Palacio attempted to remove her son from the situation so as not to upset the girl and her family but ended up worsening the situation. Natalie Merchant's song of the same name made her realize that the incident could illustrate a valuable lesson. Palacio was inspired by Merchant's lyrics and she began writing. She named the book directly after the song and used the song's chorus as the prologue of the first chapter.
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Community Reviews
Very sad and ending was uplifting. We learn a lot about the character of people and their true hearts. I hope my children are lucky enough to have friends like jack and summer. August is a strong person where if I was in his shoes, I would definitely be a weaker person. His family truly are supportive and loving.
Tear jerker. Should have won a Caldecott award
Next book.
Tear jerker. Should have won a Caldecott award
Next book.
Finally got around to reading this. This one's interesting, because I've heard about it mostly from my kids. A lot of the kids' books I read are award-winners or are the kind of book that always seem to appear on lists. It's not that I don't like it when my kids recommend books to me or I don't take them seriously; I just have a lot to read and it takes me a while to get to some books, sometimes. And, also, let's be real, most of the time they just suggest Percy Jackson again and I have vowed solemnly to never read a book about him again. This book, on the other hand, I not only kept seeing everywhere in kids' sections, but my kids would recommend it in a real quiet way. I'd say, "Have you read Wonder?" And they'd go, "Oh, yeah, that's a great book," with these suddenly serious faces. I've even read a couple of book reports about it.
Having finally gotten around to it, I have to say: they were right. Why isn't everyone reading this book? Why isn't it required?
It's about August Pullman, a young boy with craniofacial abnormalities. This is the first year he's gone to real school -- and it's also his first year of middle school, which anybody who went to school knows is the worst. Imagine going to middle school where people refuse to touch you, call you "orc" to your face, and where parents complain about your inclusion into the school. The horribleness of middle school is just compounded.
I won't say this book gave me insight into what it's like to be someone with a disability because I've been introduced to that topic before and I have a fair idea, as far as someone who doesn't have a disability can have. What I thought was so important about this book was the relationships between the characters, the depth of some of the characters, and the setting of middle school. I think it's important for middle schoolers to see books where the kids band together to be kind. I worry that too often the only books out there about middle school are about, like, a single kid sticking up for one other kid. In this book, the whole grade rallies behind August (eventually). Or that the book is filled so much with mean things so that even though they're explaining how awful it is to be bullied, the negative content overwhelms. This book was none of those things. There was a lot of discussion about how even though you can be trying really hard not to be hurtful, you can still hurt someone's feelings. Like, you may not say anything to them, but if you get up really quickly and sit somewhere else, that's still hurtful. Lastly, the parents were wonderful, kind, complex characters, unlike so many books and movies aimed at kids where parents are bumbling and uncool at their best and cruel and neglectful at their worst.
I think everyone should read this book. Everyone. Now get out there and do it! It's not even that long!
Edit: I have been reading other reviews from people who point out a few criticisms that I would feel remiss in not talking about.
Firstly, several people have pointed out that August receives an award basically for being disabled, not because he's actually special. Even he admits this -- he says, I'm just an ordinary kid, I don't see what's so special about me. This implies that disabled people should be given special treatment even if they don't deserve it. I think this is contentious because I think that there are occasions where some special treatment is fine. But then again, I'm not disabled. This whole topic concerns me because while I can see where this might be problematic, I don't feel like I can voice a strong opinion on the topic because I'm not disabled nor do I have very many close friends or family members who are, so I don't have a lot of intimate experience with the topic.
Secondly, the issue with the bully is dealt with in a really vague way. As someone else pointed out, when Jack and August are texting and making up, Jack says that if he were Julian he would kill himself. I understand that Julian was a jerk but it's never acceptable to say that you would kill yourself if you were someone else. Likewise, we never hear from Julian's point of view and the only way the whole issue is resolved is kind of a cop-out. Oh, he just doesn't show up anymore and then he's going to transfer schools the next year. I had a hard time seeing these points because the way Julian's parents handled the issue upset me.
Thirdly, the issue of August's friends. Several people have rightly said that the way the rest of the grade is being nice to him doesn't necessarily mean they're his friends. I don't think August actually thinks that. I think he thinks it's nice that they're being nice to and protective of him (who wouldn't?). I don't actually think that he would, say, go to Ximena Chin and expect her to be his bestie. I just think he now expects a more regular version of human decency without the automatic recoil.
The last issue I had was many people said that they didn't like the type of "nice" that people were being to August and that being "kind" usually didn't work out. I think they were conflating "kindness" with "pity". One person gave the example of a phenomenon where people often are overly caring towards disabled people, speaking in quiet whispers, bending over backwards to make sure they're okay. I call that pity, not kindness. Kindness is treating people like humans. I don't think kindness is disrespectful. I think pity is disrespectful.
Having finally gotten around to it, I have to say: they were right. Why isn't everyone reading this book? Why isn't it required?
It's about August Pullman, a young boy with craniofacial abnormalities. This is the first year he's gone to real school -- and it's also his first year of middle school, which anybody who went to school knows is the worst. Imagine going to middle school where people refuse to touch you, call you "orc" to your face, and where parents complain about your inclusion into the school. The horribleness of middle school is just compounded.
I won't say this book gave me insight into what it's like to be someone with a disability because I've been introduced to that topic before and I have a fair idea, as far as someone who doesn't have a disability can have. What I thought was so important about this book was the relationships between the characters, the depth of some of the characters, and the setting of middle school. I think it's important for middle schoolers to see books where the kids band together to be kind. I worry that too often the only books out there about middle school are about, like, a single kid sticking up for one other kid. In this book, the whole grade rallies behind August (eventually). Or that the book is filled so much with mean things so that even though they're explaining how awful it is to be bullied, the negative content overwhelms. This book was none of those things. There was a lot of discussion about how even though you can be trying really hard not to be hurtful, you can still hurt someone's feelings. Like, you may not say anything to them, but if you get up really quickly and sit somewhere else, that's still hurtful. Lastly, the parents were wonderful, kind, complex characters, unlike so many books and movies aimed at kids where parents are bumbling and uncool at their best and cruel and neglectful at their worst.
I think everyone should read this book. Everyone. Now get out there and do it! It's not even that long!
Edit: I have been reading other reviews from people who point out a few criticisms that I would feel remiss in not talking about.
Firstly, several people have pointed out that August receives an award basically for being disabled, not because he's actually special. Even he admits this -- he says, I'm just an ordinary kid, I don't see what's so special about me. This implies that disabled people should be given special treatment even if they don't deserve it. I think this is contentious because I think that there are occasions where some special treatment is fine. But then again, I'm not disabled. This whole topic concerns me because while I can see where this might be problematic, I don't feel like I can voice a strong opinion on the topic because I'm not disabled nor do I have very many close friends or family members who are, so I don't have a lot of intimate experience with the topic.
Secondly, the issue with the bully is dealt with in a really vague way. As someone else pointed out, when Jack and August are texting and making up, Jack says that if he were Julian he would kill himself. I understand that Julian was a jerk but it's never acceptable to say that you would kill yourself if you were someone else. Likewise, we never hear from Julian's point of view and the only way the whole issue is resolved is kind of a cop-out. Oh, he just doesn't show up anymore and then he's going to transfer schools the next year. I had a hard time seeing these points because the way Julian's parents handled the issue upset me.
Thirdly, the issue of August's friends. Several people have rightly said that the way the rest of the grade is being nice to him doesn't necessarily mean they're his friends. I don't think August actually thinks that. I think he thinks it's nice that they're being nice to and protective of him (who wouldn't?). I don't actually think that he would, say, go to Ximena Chin and expect her to be his bestie. I just think he now expects a more regular version of human decency without the automatic recoil.
The last issue I had was many people said that they didn't like the type of "nice" that people were being to August and that being "kind" usually didn't work out. I think they were conflating "kindness" with "pity". One person gave the example of a phenomenon where people often are overly caring towards disabled people, speaking in quiet whispers, bending over backwards to make sure they're okay. I call that pity, not kindness. Kindness is treating people like humans. I don't think kindness is disrespectful. I think pity is disrespectful.
This book should be a mandatory read for every kid that bullies others in school! It would teach some that they need to alter their own behaviour! However some bullies are nothing more their entire life sad as it is! This book would make certain types of people think! For me it was a good read that made me smile in parts and cry in others! I've never liked bullies but this book was merely a reminder to me of how vile the human race can be, in particular it highlighted how some people adults no less, are just beyond decent and need bringing down a leg or two!
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