We all probably heard about Wonder, it’s this story about a boy who has a facial problem, let’s say it comes from his genes. On the back of the book, it includes a very catchy phrase that states
“I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse”
This phrase pretty much puts you at the edge of your seat.
Now, before you read. There are a lot of spoilers.
So, before you get to know the book a little more deeper you should know that this book is New York Times bestselling as mentioned before in the title.
One of the comments written on the back of the book, is:
“Rich and memorable… It’s Auggie and the rest of the children who are the real hear of Wonder, and Palacio captures the voices of girls and boys, fifth graders and teenagers, with equal skill.” – The New York Times Book Review
More and more, this just shows that this book is for people who are feeling different from others. People who have disabilities, who wants to make a change in their life.
Now, we all are aware that the main character is a bit different from normal people, he has a facial deformation. But, he has his family to make him feel normal, especially his sister, his sister, is like the sisters, who are protective of their siblings.
All about August’s Life (Wonder)
On page 104, it states, “previously unknown type of madibulofacial dysotosis caused by an autosomal recessive mutation in the TCOF1 gene, which located on chromosome 5, complicated by hemifacial microsomia characteristic of OAV spectrum.”
So, this is what it means, August is like normal people, just his face is very different, he is not normal in physical features.
Now Auggie is very insecure about his features. People think he’s weird, they scream when they see him in playgrounds or outside.
On the first day of school, at lunch, no one wants to sit next to him, because he is weird.
But he ends up with sitting with a girl named Summer. August and Summer are best friends after the few days, sitting together at lunch.
August has some rivals, like Julian. See, Julian doesn’t joke about August to his face, instead he jokes about him in some other ways.
Examples:
- putting up a drawing in his locker
- cutting out his photo from the class pictures
Like this one time, when Julian asked him about the braid on the back of his head, which was like a Padawan thing.
Julian then asked him why he didn’t like Darth Wader, because Darth Wader’s face was kind of burnt.
Julian, thought that August’s face must mean he should like Darth Wader.
One of the other characters are Jack Will.
Now, let me warn you that Jack Will, is kind of a back stabber, in the middle of the book, but he has a reason to why he did it.
Jack seriously made August trust him and talked behind his back. But like written before he had a reason to why he did it in the first place. Making him a good friend at the end of the day.
Auggie starts to deal with normal life, outside of his home. Learning to defend himself to people like Julian and trusting more people like Summer and Jack. Making this book all about showing empathy and accepting new members in society even if you don’t like them for what they do or what they look like.
Wonder Recap
As we went over the book, Wonder is New York Times Bestseller, it was published during 2012. It was a very huge hit, because this is something that would happen not only to kids with disabilities but normal kids. Wonder gave readers a feeling of amazement and astonishment. Making them read it more than once. Both the book and the movie explores acceptance in society.
More book reviews to try reading new things: https://twinsparkle.com/ive-only-read-3-books-so-far-
If you want to watch the movie as well as read the book, you can visit Rotten Tomatoes a website known to reviewing movie: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wonder
