Recent Read: Wonder

August Pullman is accustomed to being gawked at. The facial deformities that he was born with have not only meant that we would be in and out of surgery 27 times during the first ten years of his life, they've set him apart, eliciting all sorts of reactions from people who don't know him. Now that he's approaching fifth grade, his parents decide it's time to send him to school outside the home. Can August overcome the challenges he faces at school? Will his classmates be able to see him and not just his face?

R. J. Palacio's Wonder was a joy to read. I loved it. Even though it's a book dealing with serious subjects, it's funny--charming and sweet funny, as well as laugh-out-loud Diary of a Wimpy Kid funny. The style was refreshingly direct and matter-of-fact. With the aid of that style and short chapters, the pace moves quickly.

Perhaps the best part of the book--the thing that elevates it to another level--is the excellent characterization and the way Palacio tells the story from different perspectives. The characters (Auggie in particular) are well-drawn, very human and so appealing. We get to see Auggie and the story through the eyes of Auggie himself, his sister, two of his friends/classmates, his sister's boyfriend, and his sister's friend. This added such depth and perspective. And I think it gives the book an all-ages appeal--I would recommend it to teens and adults as much as I would recommend it to children. I thought Palacio's take on each point of view was spot-on, as was her depiction of the behavior of the children around Auggie.

There are a few of things that could be criticized. I don't see the point of having a section written from the perspective of Justin (the sister's boyfriend). The pop culture references may date it at some point (they already show the author's age). And the quotes that start sections are bordering on didactic (quoting Christina Aguilera? really?). But when it comes down to rating the book I didn't care much about those things. Wonder is great not because of the "important" subject, it's great because of the real, irresistible characters and wonderful story. It may make you cry, but it will also lift your spirits.

Also, read the explanation of where the idea for the book came from in Palacio's words:

About five years ago I took my kids to visit a friend of mine who lives out of town, and at some point during the day we found ourselves sitting next to a little girl who looked the way Auggie looks in the book. We were in front of an ice cream shop, and she was sitting next to us with her mother and a friend. My younger son was only about three at the time, and he reacted exactly the way you might think a three-year old would react when seeing something that scared him: he started to cry—pretty loudly, too. And though my older son, who was ten at the time, knew better than to stare, his expression said it all despite his best efforts: he looked like someone had just punched him. It was terrible, on all counts, and I got up as quickly as I could to remove us from the scene—not for their sakes, of course, but to spare the little’s girl’s feelings. As I pushed my younger son’s stroller away I heard the little girls’ mom say, in as sweet and calm a voice as you can imagine: “Okay, guys, I think it’s time to go.” And that just got to me. 

On the drive home I couldn’t stop thinking about how that scene had played out. It occurred to me that they probably went through something like that dozens of times a day. Hundreds of times. What would that be like? What could I be teaching my children so they could understand how to respond better next time? Is “don’t stare” even the right thing to teach, or is there something deeper? All this stuff was flying through my head on the long car ride home while my boys slept in the back seat of the car. I was literally obsessing about it, so after a while I turned on the radio just to keep myself from thinking about it and the first thing that started to play was Natalie Merchant’s "Wonder." It was so amazing because that song had always been one of my absolute favorites—but that night the words really hit me, almost like I was hearing them for the first time. "People see me—I’m a challenge to your balance. I’m over your heads, how I confound you and astound you, to know I must be one of the wonders of god’s own creation…" It was like the song had been written for this girl I had just seen. 

The book kind of wrote itself in my head on that drive home. I would write the story from the child’s point of view. It would help people understand—not pity. I’m just like you, the child would say. I’m an ordinary kid—except for this one thing. And I would call the book Wonder because this child is a wonder.