From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

Wonder (Wonder, #1)

R.J. Palacio

Finish date: January 24, 2015

Why we're reading this: Story about a young boy with a facial disfigurement. All about bullying and friendships and being smart a…more
[close] Story about a young boy with a facial disfigurement. All about bullying and friendships and being smart and fearless. Suitable for all ages. Would be a great way for parents to get their kids to open up about bullying and would be an excellent school or book club for young children or teens.

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Dec 21, 2013 Melissa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

http://merrylandgirl.blogspot.com/201... ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 01, 2017 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, american-fiction, young-adult-fiction, children-s-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was very good. At first I hated the multiple points of view, switching with each chapter, but this trick did fill in parts of the story Auggie could not, realistically, have provided. It's a good read even for adults, I think - a reminder about the importance of kindness. Auggie is also written really well: he has brains and a great sense of humor and readers will be drawn into his life.

I did have a couple of minor critiques and one larger one. I wish I'd had a trigger warning that Da This book was very good. At first I hated the multiple points of view, switching with each chapter, but this trick did fill in parts of the story Auggie could not, realistically, have provided. It's a good read even for adults, I think - a reminder about the importance of kindness. Auggie is also written really well: he has brains and a great sense of humor and readers will be drawn into his life.

I did have a couple of minor critiques and one larger one. I wish I'd had a trigger warning that Daisy (the dog) was going to die. I have a really hard time handling animal death and I had to put the book down for a while. I know trigger warnings are serious and I'm fairly certain reading about dogs dying does not actually "trigger" me in the same way that various other events in writing do for, for example, sexual assault survivors, but I do really hate reading about animals dying. I might have skimmed that section and not really lost anything significant, story-wise. The other (really) minor critique is that Palacio doesn't seem to use "August" vs. "Auggie" realistically, to signify anything. It seemed random sometimes, and I never really got comfortable with a middle schooler's friends calling him "August" - it just seemed unlikely, to me.

The larger issue is with the Julian Chapter. This whole book was so good on a personal, micro level. But when Palacio introduces the Holocaust in the Julian Chapter, it just seems so overwrought. I understand that we need to teach kids that that's how big, terrible things happen - a series of small, terrible things builds until it's not small anymore. But I didn't feel like it fit easily into this story, and thought it felt a bit more like a baseball bat to the head, even though had this chapter stood alone, or as a part of another story into which it was better integrated, it would have been fine, as it was beautifully written. I just didn't feel it fit - it wasn't necessary to go so big, in this particular story. Surely there are ways to teach Julian about meanness on the smaller scale on which the rest of the book operates. As it is, it seems hyperbolic and sort of like the type of moral cautionary tale that would produce eye-rolls from a lot of middle-schoolers. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 12, 2015 Kara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-grade, diverse-kids-books

Now I know why everyone was talking about this book last year. There are a lot of middle grade novels that I read and forget about, but this story and its main character, August, will stick with me for a long time.

I do have one fact-checking criticism: Auggie's class goes on a retreat in Pennsylvania in late spring, and there's a major plot point where he and some other kids end up lost in/running through corn stalks their height. As a Pennsylvanian from a land of many corn fields, I wish the au ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 19, 2014 Emily rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2014, young-adult-lit, middle-grade

I have been hearing about this book for a long time, and now that I finally read it I can understand why. Wonder is one of those books that, perhaps despite its flaws, will definitely stick with you. The main character, Auggie, is a lovable hero. The reader finds themselves falling in love with him even as the children at his school do.

But, and perhaps I am too cynical, this was one of the main issues I had with the book. Everything seems to eventually come up roses for the main character. I gu ...more

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Nov 29, 2016 Krystal rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 2016, middlegrade

Great middle grade fiction. If I'm being picky it's a bit more theistic than I'd like but overall it was really good. ...more

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Mar 31, 2020 Julianne Dunn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-read-harder

This is the sweetest book ever. The primary theme is to Choose Kindness but it tackles school bullies, self-doubt, and empathy. August is incredibly endearing and is entering school for the first time in middle school. The narration bounces around his classmates, his sister and her boyfriend, each dealing with their own inner challenges and choose different ways to deal with them. I read it in one night and cried in sweetness several times.

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Aug 02, 2017 Jana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, kindle, 2017

Wonderful, honest, sweet story. The parents were a bit magical and everything resolved beautifully and easily, but, you know, it is a children's book and not a dark and twisty adult book. I can't wait to introduce Auggie to my niece and nephews. ...more

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