Wonder by R.J. Palacio
My name is Simone, I’m 13 years old and I’m going into 8th grade. I enjoy skiing, playing volleyball, skateboarding and I have a love for fashion.
Wonder is an excellent book that I loved reading. Auggie, or August, is a boy who has a face deformity. He has had countless surgeries and has been homeschooled his whole life but that changes this year. In Manhattan, where Augie lives, fifth grade is the first year of middle school so August will blend in with all the new kids. Auggie does have a cleft palate, he describes himself by saying, “I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.”
The principal of Auggie’s new school, Mr. Tushman (yes, his name is Mr. Tushman), asks a few
students to show Auggie around the school. Auggie will then need to decide if he’s interested in going there. After laughing together about Mr. Tushman’s name, Summer, Julian, and Jack show Auggie the school of Beecher Prep. While Auggie isn’t sure about Julian, the others make him feel comfortable enough to try to go to school with other kids for the first time in his life.
On Halloween drama sparks when one of Auggie’s friends doesn’t know it’s him under the
mask and says something bad about August.
The most important part of this story, I think, is when the students go to a nature camp as a field trip for school and they all really find themselves. August also finds who his real friends are on this trip. This book talks a lot about loyalty and finding yourself, I recommend!
