KidLit Forum

In the first part of the book we find out that August is not an ordinary kid,because:
He had twenty-seven surgeries in ten years;
He is little for his age;
Tiny mushed-up face;
He has a tiny braid ant the back of his hair “Padawan”;
He has to chew food in the front of the mouth; had jaw alignment surgery; eats like a tortoise;
But in fact the author never reveals what August looks like, in this way many children with problems can identify with him and we have a very good reason why we don’t have a full image description:
“I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.”
It think that it is very difficult to get used with people that have a special appearance and throughout the book we discover that small kids don’t judge each other by appearance, but with the age coming they develop a stereotypical and they lose their patience to discover a person in all his ways. It is still interesting to see that August is a very courageous child and he accepts his deformities and still has the patience and courage to face the world. I admire his willingness to overcome the handicap and act as normal as he can. I think that in the world we live in it is more difficult to live among people with body deformities, especially on the face, that with a hidden deformity or a mental retard, because when you have a body deformity everybody stares at you can see the disgust on their face and the repulse on their face.

In what concerns the family August is privileged because being a child with problems he gets all the attention and in exchange Olivia, his sister needs someone’s attention and as all the children she has problems. In high school she gets a chance to build up a new life, a life as not being know as the sister of a boy with deformities.

I believe this book is really wakes up strong emotions within the reader. When I started reading I didn't expect to find out that August was such a special boy.

It was interesting to read the story from the others point of view, especially his sister. but I think it would have been nice to see the story through the eyes of the parents. being a mother makes me realize the strength you need to raise a child like August. life was hard for August but it surely wasn't easier for his parents either.

I wasn't sure if there was going to be a happy ending. I was expecting to read that something bad happened to August, that his medical state got worse, but I was relieved when I discovered that it ended in a happy manner.

I Wonder... how many children feel the same as August? He was born this way and he had to face bullying all his life. Why do society put so many stereotypes on people without knowing who they really are? August is a very smart boy who suffers from his deformed face and is judged only after his appearance. This book is about a not so ordinary boy who tries to fit in a society that doesn't know how to break her "beauty standards". He manages to go over his condition as a freak with the help of true friends and the love of his family. I really liked the fact that even if almost everybody tried to make him feel like a handicapped person ,at the end of the book they realise that he is the normal kid and that they are the ones with problems. This book really explains the saying: "Don't judge a book by its covers".

One of the books I really liked was WONDER by R. J. Palacio. It seemed so real and interesting. I read about something that we can see in everyday life. It's about this boy, August, a ten year old, who has a facial deformity and because of it he had to be home- schooled by his mother. Growing up, his parents decided to enroll him in a private school. There he was bullied by his schoolmates, called different names and suffered a lot because of the awful things said behind his back. After a while he makes some friends Jack Will, Julian Albans and Charlotte Cody and eventually "Auggie" gets used to school rules and he's even exemplary in certain areas. In the end he conquers the hearts of everybody and even takes pictures with everyone though he hated it at first. Her mother is very proud of him and of what he accomplished and calls him a WONDER. I really liked his story having a happy ending. I think we shouldn't judge people by the way they look or by the fact that they have disabilities, we should try to see that, beneath they are beautiful and special in their own way and each of them has special gifts to offer.

The book talks about a serious issue of our society: we hardly can accept those ones who haven’t any “normal” appearance (unfortunately we turn around on the street for any little kind of strangeness like limping, burn injuries, disabilities, haven’t any parts of the body etc. ) We are staring disgustedly, or even laughing at them. It’s sad but true. I don’t say that in previous centuries wasn’t this problem as harsh as now, but nowadays we are struggling with strong body image issues. Our expectations about appearance are high by becoming the perfection to be our main goal.

However, August’s handling of the situation was something admirable. He is happy at most of the time, and how he faces every weird situation is unbelievable. I think I couldn’t handle this so easy. Of course, he couldn’t endure it without the support of his family and friends. We wouldn’t believe that the thought that someone is near to you can give us such a strength.

I liked the style of writing that the author uses, and as he divides the book into chapters with more perspectives. First of all in this way we could see how the other children perceived his disfigurement. In their monologs, we can read the answers to questions that have already burned us. In the whole book, they are struggling with the issue of how to handle a situation like this. Some of them want to try it some of them don’t. Until the end of the book, they accept him and they realize how a cool guy he is. Along with them, we, the readers accept him too and we get to a conclusion: appearance isn’t everything. It’s not important at all. At least this was my conclusion when I put down the book.

This should be definitely introduced in the program at school instead of what we have to read. My concern is that those books don’t fit our generation anymore. Students, while they are reading them, are not learning so many things about themselves. This would be a great study even for parents, because of the role of August’s parents. They handled it in such a good way. They education is really appreciable.

Setting aside all the heart breaking that this book can create, which has been mentioned several times(so I'm not going to go there anymore), I can say I absolutely fell in love with the characters, especially with August's parents. It was right from the beginning of the book, when, even if they were having an argument about August going to school and he heard them, they explained to him that they both loved him and wanted what's best for him, but sometimes they want it in different ways. My thoughts at that moment were "There are some parenting goals right there!". I am not a parent yet, but I already know this part of the book and these two characters will stay in a very special place in my mind. August's parents could have fallen into a "victim" role, they could have complained about life being unfair, about all the hardships that they had to face, but instead, they focused on love and became brave and taught their children to do the same- be brave and love each other.

I also loved Olivia. Probably because I was the older sister of a very sick little boy myself and the age difference between me and my brother was the same. I never had to face the discrimination that Via had to deal with, as people were sympathetic and it was was not something that had anything to do with looks. Still, I did feel some of the loneliness and I did have to learn and understand a lot of "grown up stuff" on my own, as the whole family was spinning around my brother for a few years. So I guess I found a little part of me in this character, and I found her to be one of the bravest in the whole book, because I've tasted just a small part of her life, and can only imagine how it must have been living everything. Still, I don't regret anything and neither did Via, as far as I've perceived, as this experience gives you quite the set of life competences and, again, teaches you to take things as they are instead of becoming a victim.

Nevertheless, as I went through the book, I noticed all the "good" characters had this... bravery and maturity at the age of only ten. Yes, I'm speaking about August, Jack, Summer and even Charlotte. Although I enjoyed their behavior, I could not help ask myself if that can really happen, if there can be so many children with this level of wisdom in one place. I guess I felt a little bit too much of the author's views in each of them, but, on the other hand, maybe this should be a lesson about what an education based on love, kindness and values can create.

Thank you Henni for your personal and well thought words.

And thank you, Binaca, for the tender, mature and very personal words.

It seems that, like at Canaa, the good wine was kept for the very last...