Wonder - R. J. Palacio

 

This beautiful book was lent to me by a teacher at the school I work at, with the promise that it would love it. Spoiler: I absolutely did! I think I hit a personal record by reading a book of over 300 pages in one single sitting - about three hours straight and I was done.

The book, often read by year five and six pupils, is reminiscent in style of the likes of John Green and Stephen Chbosky. It follows August Pullman, a boy of ten with a severe facial deformity who has been home schooled all his life due to his being in and out of hospital so much for his 27 surgeries. It comes to a time that his parents decide he should go to school and interact with other children, and Auggie is terrified. He has been wearing a spaceman helmet to leave the house since he was small to prevent the customary pointing, staring and name-calling inflicted by other children in public places.

He soon begins at Beecher Prep, against his every instinct. To begin with he is ridiculed, teased and avoided, with other children claiming they’ll catch ‘the Plague’ if they touch him. Yet despite the suffering and pain, there are glimmers of light at his new school. His teachers provide him with support and guidance (I love Mr Brown and his precepts!), and soon he forms friendships with children who are worth befriending. Throughout this moving novel, Auggie learns the power of companionship and sticking up for what is right when it may be easier to say nothing.

Palacio splits the novel into sections, each narrated by various characters. This works really well as you get to understand why people act as they do in certain situations - there are always two (or more!) sides to every story. This is one of those special books which makes you feel the extremes - both shame and disappointment at the lack of compassion and kindness of people, yet simultaneously, hope that humans can be extraordinarily good. I cried many times whilst reading this novel and it was incredibly uplifting, and it makes you think twice before being impatient with anyone - you never truly know what someone else is going through.