August Pullman was born with a rare life-threatening
condition that makes his face appear deformed.
After a life time of surgery, August is now a lovable fifth grade
boy. Now that it’s time for fifth grade,
his parents have decided he should go to a real school for the first time in
his life.
A bright and funny boy, August joins his new school
and is quickly shunned. There are bright
spots at school as a couple of kids get to know August and become his
friends. As the year proceeds there are
highs and lows. What does it mean to be
kind? Can middle school kids find it
within them to be kind and accept someone who is different?
I really enjoyed this book. My husband and boys read it for the library
youth book club last year, but I didn’t read it at that time. I did read it this year for the February
selection of the Rogue Book Club (aka FLICKS Book and Movie club). We had a lightly attended book club meeting
last week, but myself and the one other person that read the book both really
enjoyed it. The book touched me as it
really hit on a lot of great points and made me think about how I treat people now
and how I treated people in the past.
I read about the author after I finished the book and
she talked about how she wrote the book after she saw a child with a similar
condition and rushed out of the situation, so her kids wouldn’t say anything to
hurt the child. And she thought – how
would that make the child feel? It made
me realize I have done that as well as I don’t want my kids to make comments
about someone different, when I should probably face the situation head
on. She also had an interesting
interview where she said she would have been Charlotte in the book while she
was growing up. Nice, but wouldn’t have
been brave enough to be Auggie’s friend.
I was similar.
My 12-year-old son Kile said his favorite scene was
when the fifth grade went camping and Auggie really got to see the true colors
of his class. I agreed that it was my
favorite as well. Kile’s sixth-grade class went to see the movie this
year. I would like to see it as
well!
I’ll admit I was jarred at first when the book
switched from Auggie’s point of view to his sister’s and then on to other
characters, but I got used to it and liked seeing how others perceived the same
situation.
Favorite quotes:
“I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball.
I have an Xbox. Stuff like that makes
me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside.
But I know ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming
in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don’t
get stared at wherever they go.”
“When given the choice between being right or being
kind, choose kind.”
“The things we do are like monuments that people build
to honor heroes after they’ve died. They’re
like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the pharaohs. Only instead of being made out of stone, they’re
made out of the memories people have of you.
That’s why your deeds are like your monument. Built with memories instead of with stone.”
“I wish every day could be Halloween. We could all
wear masks all the time. Then we could
walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like
under the masks.”
“Jack, sometimes you don’t have to be mean to hurt someone
to hurt someone. You understand?”
“Funny how sometimes you worry a lot about something
and it turns out to be nothing.”
“It’s so weird how that can be, how you could have a
night that’s the worst in your life, but to everybody else it’s just an ordinary
night.”
“There are always going to be jerks in the world,
Auggie. But I really believe, and Daddy
really believers, that there are more good people on this earth than bad
people, and the good people watch out for each other and take care of each other.”
“If every single person in this room made it a rule
that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder
than necessary – the world really would be a better place.”
Overall, Wonder is a special book that really explores
kindness and how we can all make the world a better place to live in. I recommend it to all kids and adults!
Book Source: I
purchased it while out Christmas shopping . . . and I can’t remember where!
I haven't read this, but I saw the movie recently. It's very touching. Excellent review, Laura!
ReplyDeleteThank-you! I really need to see the movie!
ReplyDelete