Wonder

I'd seen the trailers for the movie, "Wonder," and  it seemed like my kind of movie. I never gave much thought to whether it was a book first or not, even though these stories usually are. But when I was in New York to celebrate Christmas with my granddaughters, and the 9 year old was engrossed in the novel by R.J. Palacio, I decided that I needed to read the book. I immediately requested the e-book from the library. Not quite 2 months later, I had the book in my hands, virtually speaking.

I loved this book. All the voices in the book were authentic. Which is quite a feat considering the story is told from several different perspectives. There were lots of characters to really like, a few to really dislike, and a few characters that changed my opinion over the course of the novel.

August (Auggie) was born with cranofacial differences which require lots of surgeries and at age ten, he still looks very different. Until fifth grade, Auggie was home-schooled. In fifth grade, his mother feels that he belongs in a regular classroom setting. His father disagrees at first. Once he's on board, the mother balks.

This book is about how kids who are different - in any way - are treated in middle school. (At the prep school Auggie attends, fifth grade is middle school.) As a former fifth grade teacher, I can confirm that I have seen some of the minor bullying that takes place in this story. There's been a lot of push back by the cranofacial organizations that it was a) unfair to put prosthetics on a normal featured boy rather than casting a child with one of the conditions that causes an appearance such as that portrayed and b) Auggie was celebrated as an inspirational hero just for being... nice? resistant to bullying? I get that. But I see a bigger picture.

I see the bigger bullying picture. Fifth graders can be really mean. Friendship groups shift based on rumors.

Auggie has a sister starting high school. In addition to dealing with a younger sibling who gets most of the parental attention, she's also dealing with old friendships that no longer quite fit.

The characters are authentic,the voices are authentic, the situations are, for the most part, real. I got to read about some pretty cool fifth graders, an understanding school director and an inspirational teacher. For me, what wasn't there to like?