Wonder  by R.J. Palacio

I had seen this book in the library for some weeks and thought the cover was kind of odd. I didn’t know what it was about, and it didn’t really spark my interest until I saw the movie trailer. Then after having the book on hold for a few weeks, I finally got it. I spent all day reading the book and couldn’t put it down.

The book follows a ten year old boy named Auggie as he struggles to go to middle school for the first time. As if this weren’t hard enough, Auggie has a medical problem he describes as “mandibulofacial dysostosis” that has severely disfigured his face. Auggie has never been to school before because a multitude of surgeries have kept him in and out of the hospital since he was born.

Auggie struggles with the social environment at his school and has much difficult making friends. One of the most popular students, Julian, particularly hates Auggie and bullies him every chance he gets. Auggie does, however, eventually figure out how he fits in at school and teaches everyone kindness is the real answer.

The book centers around real problems such as self-acceptance, family dynamics, prejudice, personal loss, friendship, and bullying. The story has multiple points of view switching from Auggie, to his sister Via, and several of Via and Auggie’s friends. The only draw back of this is that Palacio chose to take away punctuation and capitalization in the point of view of Justin, Via’s boyfriend, making the section slightly more difficult to read.

The movie that will be released November 17, 2017 will star Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay, and Daveed Diggs, as well as many others.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book and its message about being kind. It reminded me that everyone is different and that different is not always bad. It isn’t just another anti-bullying campaign book. It is a masterpiece worth reading again and again.

I give it five stars.