KidLit Forum

Wonder by R.J. Palacio


Wonder can make you cry and laugh at the same time, can make you feel sorry for August or it can help you restore your faith in humanity. I started reading Wonder while commuting to work and it made me sad but not because of what I read but because I saw all the teenagers on the bus who were very much concerned about their looks. One day I saw a kid who didn’t have nice and expensive clothes and you could see he was from a poor family. He just wanted to talk about his math exam with a group of teens (probably his colleagues) but a girl and a boy from the group told him to go away and sit somewhere else. In that exact moment I was reading about the Halloween party when Auggie heard what Jack said about him. The boy on the bus was not ugly or with a physical problem but he didn't fit that particular group and I could see how sad he was and then I tried to imagine how Auggie must have felt everytime he entered the class room. In my opinion Wonder is not about how a boy with craniofacial abnormality tries to fit in or tries to move on and forget about his looks. He knows how he looks like and despite all those surgeries he is well aware he won’t ever look like a normal boy. I think the book is more about teenagers’ problems, the need for being accepted as a beautiful or funny or rich kid. That age when you decide who your best friend is or what you will do in your summer holiday. Is about true friendship and Via who finally sees that her BFF are not who she thought they were, is about Summer who, even though she was beautiful and she could hang out with the popular ones she chooses Auggie and his kind heart. Is about Jack who constantly tries to figure it out why August is mad at him and he could pick Julian for his best friend but again a funny, kind and smart boy wins his heart. It is about everybody who stood up for August in that camp who finally saw him as one of their own and they saw him for exactly who he was, an intelligent boy with a great sense of humor and also very special. This book may incourage children to see that even though they are ill or is something wrong with their body or face it is important to stay funny. You maybe know that the situation won’t change and that there’s nothing to be done so you have to accept it as it is. What’s on the inside and what’s in your heart no one can take it from you.