May Book Review: Wonder

May Book Review: Wonder

My Reasons For Reading This Book

After reading Columbine last month, I was looking for a more lighthearted and fun read. I also wanted to read Wonder by R.J. Palacio before I watched the movie since the movie is based off of the book. I had seen the trailer for the movie and found the story to be very interesting and knew that the book had to one of the books I read this year. Wonder is a lot more lighthearted compared to the books I have been reading the past few months. I felt as though I chose to read this book at just the right time in my life.

Content of the Book

August Pullman is a extraordinary boy who was born with a facial difference. The books begins with him starting middle school at a private preparatory school after being homeschooled since kindergarten. The book tells the story of Auggie's adjustment to school life and the lessons and experiences he had during 5th grade. The other parts of the book are told from the perspective of Auggie's friends, classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, other others. This book has a theme of self acceptance and acceptance for others. Making friends when you are the new kid is already hard enough, but add the fact that you look different and making friends becomes even harder. Other themes of this book include: love, grief, perseverance, self growth, and many more. 

What I Liked About the Book

The choice to have the story start out with Auggie's point of view was helpful because it allowed the reader to understand how he saw himself, his family, friends, and the world around him. As someone who struggles with disorders that do not show themselves physically, I found it very interesting to read about the reactions the people have to seeing Auggie's face for the first time. The author described these scenes so well that I was able to picture exactly how the scene played out. I absolutely loved the sense of humor that each character has and how the author correctly incorporated humor that was approiate for each character depending on their gender and age. As someone who works with kids, I have to day the humor for Auggie was spot on for a fifth grade boy. Using the different characters of the book to tell their individual parts of the story helped the reader to see how one thing such as a facial difference can effect all members of a family. Doing it this way also brought home the importance of understanding that disorders and medical conditions effect all members of the family and friends. I appreciated the rawness and realness of that the characters displayed during their specific parts. I find that in order to fully understand a character complete honesty is necessary.

What I Disliked About the Book

There was only two things I disliked about this book and that was that following the half way point of the book the plot seemed to slow down and took longer than I would have liked to pick back up again. The second thing that I disliked about this book was that the character Justin seemed to come out of no where and then had an entire part of the book. I feel like maybe there could have been a way to incorporate him into Via's part before moving onto his part of the book.

Would I Recommend This Book?

100% I would recommend this book. I believe that this book is great for all ages starting at fifth grade all the way to adult. I found the book the be an easy and enjoyable read. This book has taught me to not stare and to be more aware of the fact that my staring could effect someone.
If you read this book let me know what you thought about it?

Check out my past book reviews for more thrilling reads!
April Book Review: Columbine
March Book Review: Gone Girl 
February Book Review: The Woman in the Window
January Book Review: The Worst Hard Time



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