R. J. Palacio: Wonder - Wonder Book 1

Since it came out, Wonder has been highly recommended, and it's been on my to-read list for years. I finally listened to the audiobook, and I really enjoyed it.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio follows the story of August Pullman, a boy with an incredibly rare genetic mutation that caused his face to form incorrectly with some other additional health issues. Though Auggie wasn't supposed to survive for long after his birth, he pulled through and lives an almost normal life. However, the deformity to his face causes a lot of people to stare and make fun. Auggie starts school at Beecher Prep Middle School as a fifth-grader, and though he has never attended a regular school before (he was always homeschooled), he does extremely well academically. The story follows Auggie's crazy first school year.

I loved Wonder. My students also greatly enjoy this book. It's a fast, simple read with a really enjoyable plotline. I loved the characters of the novel, and how it switches among points of view. I loved Via's opening lines, describing August as the sun, and everyone else in their lives as a planet, because that is how the story is written. I did love seeing how much Auggie grew over the course of the year.

I think the parts that bugged me were around the climax. The fight between Jack, Auggie, and the 7th graders all felt a little contrived, and I didn't find it as realistic as the rest of the book. I appreciated the way the other boys stepped in for August, but why were they allowed to wander that far? If the park didn't want kids in the forest, shouldn't there have been more than just a temporary barricade that they went around easily?

I was also bothered by the principal of Beecher Prep giving information that is likely somewhat confidential to other parents (when he told Julian's parents some things about August). Confidentiality is a really strict rule in schools. Perhaps it's not governed as well in a private school? But as a public school teacher, I could get into some trouble for disclosing that kind of confidential information about a student.

At any rate, Wonder was an incredible book with a wonderful message. It radiates this idea that we need to be kind, not pitying (as some of the characters are in the novel).

Comments

Dashka Slater: The 57 Bus

I picked this one up to possibly use in my AP class. It had been recommended to me by one of my coworkers and I was trying to decide if it was worth using in AP. The 57 Bus recounts the true story of two teens whose happenstance meeting on a public bus in Oakland, California. Sasha identified as nonbinary, liked to wear skirts, and went to a private school in Oakland. Richard was a black student, a good kid, but also tended to get mixed up in trouble. He went to a public school in Oakland's poorer side of town. One day, Sasha was riding the bus as they always did back to their house from school. This time though, Sasha fell asleep on the long ride. Richard and his friends boarded the bus as well, and seeing the skirt hanging off the edge of the seat, decided to see what would happen with a lighter. The material of the skirt burst into flames, and suddenly Sasha was burning. This story is unbelievably sad for both teenagers involved. In working with teenagers, one thing is tr...

Ruta Sepetys: The Fountains of Silence

I love historical fiction, so when my book club (of English teachers) picked this one, I was really excited to read it. The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys is about a boy named Daniel Matheson who travels to Spain in the 1950s. The leader of Spain, Franco, is ruthless and has an iron hold on his people. Daniel's father is an oil tycoon who wants his son to take over the business, while his mother is from Spain. Daniel doesn't want to join his father's business. He wants to become a photographer. His goal while in Spain is to take pictures worthy enough of a contest that he's working on. While there, Daniel meets Ana, a maid at the Hilton Hotel he's staying at. Ana is assigned to Daniel's family and attends to their every need. Ana's family is poor and this is an incredible job opportunity for her. Ana's family needs this job. Ana and Daniel become friends and start to fall in love with each other, something Ana seems hesitant about and Daniel kno...

Robert Louis Stevenson: Pavilion on the Links

For anyone who has read Stevenson's short story "Pavilion on the Links" here is a short discussion of the story and a key passage. For anyone who hasn't, here is a short explication dealing with a passage from the short story. The prompt is as follows: In "The Pavilion on the Links," Frank Cassilis, the story's narrator, describes his friend Northmour: "My wife and I, a man and a woman, have often agreed to wonder how a person could be, at the same time, so handsome and so repulsive as Northmour. He had the appearance of a finished gentleman; his face bore every mark of intelligence and courage; but you had only to look at him, even in his most amiable moment, to see that he had the temper of a slaver captain. I never knew a character that was both explosive and revengeful to the same degree; he combined the vivacity of the south with the sustained and deadly hatreds of the north; and both traits were plainly written on his face, which was...

Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

Search This Blog