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Wonder (Wonder, #1)

R.J. Palacio

Start date: July 1, 2017

Finish date: July 31, 2017

Discussion: Monthly Bonus Reads

Why we're reading this: July Bonus Read- International Day of Friendship
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What Members Thought

Jul 30, 2017 Jeanne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-women, read-2017, ya

I didn't want to read R. J. Palacio's Wonder. I like YA books, but have exceeded my dose recently. Many YA books are pat, easy, and have clear views of right and wrong. While Wonder comes too close to this dangerous territory at points, it veers back and was ultimately more satisfying than I'd anticipated.

August Pullman has a “previously unknown type of mandibulofacial dysostosis caused by an autosomal recessive mutation in the TCOF1 gene, which is located on chromosome 5, complicated by a hemif I didn't want to read R. J. Palacio's Wonder. I like YA books, but have exceeded my dose recently. Many YA books are pat, easy, and have clear views of right and wrong. While Wonder comes too close to this dangerous territory at points, it veers back and was ultimately more satisfying than I'd anticipated.

August Pullman has a “previously unknown type of mandibulofacial dysostosis caused by an autosomal recessive mutation in the TCOF1 gene, which is located on chromosome 5, complicated by a hemifacial microsomia characteristic of OAV spectrum” (p. 104). As he said as introduction, “I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s
worse” (p. 3).

Wonder follows August through his 5th grade year. This was his first year in school, as August was both medically fragile and required numerous surgeries to get him to a place where he still scared and dumbfounded strangers.

Fifth grade. Not the easiest time for any of us, yet even more difficult for someone like August. He had a rough time: his peers pretended he had The Plague and avoided touching him, ostracized anyone who was friendly to him, and betrayed him in order to fit in. We've been there, done that, right? Through a combination of courage, kindness, friendship, character, and a lot of support from friends and family, he made it through this first difficult year.

I tend to mistrust books where the central character is damaged in some way, but exceptional in most others (e.g., The Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame). What if August had not been bright and ahead of most of his classmates in school? What if he hadn't had strong social skills and an exceptional support system? What if August really had been ordinary and like the rest of us? Would we have befriended and supported him?

Am I being unrealistic in my demands of this YA book?

There are several things that make this book work for adults – and also kids. Wonder is alternately told from the perspectives of six children and teens, providing a greater range of viewpoints than any one character might offer, including offering different understandings of their behavior than August and the others had initially drawn. Wonderwas told over the course of a school year, which allowed its characters to stumble, grow, and change. Adults are often invisible or damaged in YA fiction, but there are a large number of adults in this book who are smart, compassionate, and thoughtful. Perhaps the adults are often idealized, but there are also adults (and kids) who are self-absorbed and neglectful. In some cases their children pull through anyway, but in others...

I dislike tidy endings and Wonder has one. It has enough other strengths – likable characters, reasonable adults, perspective taking, growth in its characters, a good moral –that I was willing to like it anyway.
...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Nov 16, 2015 Heather rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015

I had been waiting for this book from the library for awhile, and I jumped into it as soon as it was available to me. I really enjoyed this book. I appreciated the style of writing in the sense of the different narrators, and I loved August's character and his whole family. August's positive attitude felt contagious and and his humour was awesome! I would highly recommend this as a feel-good book for any age, but I really think that teenagers would benefit a lot from reading this book. 4.5/5 for ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Sep 18, 2017 Mom2triplets04 rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own-read, need-to-finish, around-the-year-2017, 50-50, audio-listened

I finally finished this book. I started to read it back when it was released but never finished it. So this week in preparation for the movie I decided to start over and took out the audio book from library. It's an amazing book about friendship and how we all should be kind. There was one part in the book that I cried. Everyone should read this book. Can't wait for the movie to come out. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Oct 11, 2019 Sassy Sarah Reads rated it it was amazing

Shelves: booktube-made-me-do-it, books-to-moviesssssss, i-would-buy-a-copy-because-i-need-t, young-adult, to-review

5 stars. This book is so important. People will tell you it's important, but don't just hear those words and shrug them off. Auggie's story is impactful. Auggie is human. Auggie's story is powerful and full of hardship, but such sweet friendship. What a victory for the middle grade genre that this book exists. Review to come. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2016 Caryl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: with-skye-and-felix, shelf-sitter

So glad to finally have a chance to read this one aloud to my two kids.

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 13, 2015 Jana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-grade, 2015

This was such a wonderful book to read with my class. We laughed, we teared up a bit, and I think we all grew closer through the shared experience. Plus, there a lot of great conversations you can have about how to make people feel included and what it means to judge someone based on how they look.

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