Wonder

Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Published by Corgi Children's
Paperback
Published 3 January 2013
410 pages
Owned

Connect with the author Buy the book: UK (affiliate's link) Buy the book: USA I read this for 2017 Popsugar Reading Challenge. The category is 'a book by or about a person who has a disability'. WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT You can't blend in when you were born to stand out. My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside.

But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.

Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?

Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches forever, Wonder is a funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page. Hanging by a frayed thread, she is living in the moment, living for each day. But she is still Alice.

EXTRACT

I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old kid.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I loved Wonder, I thought it was brilliant; sad, funny, moving, heart-breaking and life affirming. I fell in love with August and his life as he adjusts to going to school for the first time, makes some real friends and discovers some people just never get over themselves. I liked the fact the book is narrated by different people, not just August. I wasn't expecting this and it works really well, seeing how August's face affects everyone around him. There are a lot of sad moments in Wonder and I really wanted to give August a hug. I was bullied and can appreciate how much worse it must have been for August. I liked the different perspectives of events and how the real story wasn't always what August thought it was. August is a great character and I loved being inside his head. The happy ending was a bit twee but I still loved it. I also thought Summer was awesome and a very genuine person. I adored Wonder and would highly recommend it.

RATING

Published