Wonder: A Review

RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

My name is August. I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.

August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5^th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid – but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. Wonder begins with Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others.

 

Wonder follows the story of ten-year-old August “Auggie” Pullman who was born with severe facial differences. All his life, people of all ages have stared at him, gawped at him, young children scream, and older children call him names. August has been home-schooled by his mother from kindergarten through to fourth-grade. But as he is starting middle school, his parents decide to send him to a private middle school called Beecher Prep in New York City. Auggie goes with his mother to visit the school before the school year begins and is introduced to the principle, Mr Tushman. Mr Tushman has three students in Auggie’s year, Jack Will, Julian and Charlotte, show him around the building. Julian starts to bully Auggie as soon as they are out of sight of the adults, while the others defend him. As Julian takes an instant dislike to Auggie, he sets out to make his time at Beecher Prep uncomfortable and lonely. Julian and his friends immediately start bullying Auggie about his appearance, but he quickly makes friends with classmates, Summer and Jack Will, who defend him. 

            School life is not smooth sailing for Auggie. He is repeatedly bullied by Julian and his friends and, on Halloween, overhears Jack Will joining in with the bullying, unaware that Auggie is nearby dressed in a different costume to what they were expecting. Due to this, Auggie isolates himself from his classmates and his family. Thankfully, over the Christmas break, Jack Will and Auggie reconcile, and all is well between the friends again. 

            Auggie isn’t the only one facing problems at school as his older sister, Olivia “Via”, has started high school and found that her best friends are avoiding her. She makes new friends who don’t know about Auggie and as a result she isn’t treated any differently at her new school. After years of her and her family putting Auggie first, Via has begun to feel that her parents care more about her brother than her and ignore her. This leads to the family having important conversations about their lives as they know them. 

            For both Auggie and Via, things at school begin to change and it starts to become a lot easier for them both. Strong friendships are made, bullies are put in their place, relationships start, and old friendships are rekindled. 

 

I bought this book a few years ago, round about the time the movie came out, but I never read it. I had heard really good things about the book, but I had never got around to reading it. Then in 2018 while I was on placement in a Primary 6 class, the class started reading Wonder as their class novel. While I was in the class, they read a little of the novel and had multiple discussions about what was happening in the story. I knew that a lot of teachers were using this book in their classes to teach children about the effects of bullying and the importance of treating everyone with kindness. After reading the book, I feel that everyone, no matter what if they are a child or an adult, should read this book. People have a tendency to judge those who are different to them, if they look different, follow a different religion, or have different opinions. There is a growing level of intolerance in the world today in the current political climate and this book teaches the basics of the importance of treating everyone with kindness and respect. Everyone in this world is fighting their own battle, with their own demons and complications. The book tells us that if everyone in the world treated others with a little more kindness than what is needed then the world would be a much better place.

 

I cannot recommend this book enough. It is so heart-warming, emotional and incredibly eye-opening. This will definitely be a book that I will be using in my future classes as it teaches children so many important life lessons. The story is amazing, and the characters are relatable and just like children. They are mean like children can be, they are kind like children can be, and they are brave like children can be. R.J. Palacio has written a truly amazing book in Wonder and everyone would benefit from reading it.

 

Until next time, I’ll continue reading with wanderlust. 

📚🧳✈️🗺