On one of my first days working at Lemuria this summer, Emily handed me a copy of WONDER by RJ Palacio and asked if I would read it and tell her what I thought. A novel about a fifth grade boy with a severely deformed face beginning school for the first time looked potentially interesting; however, it was soon lost in my massive ‘to be read’ pile.
A month or so ago, a trusted writer friend posted on her Facebook page that everyone should ‘drop everything and read it now,’ so I mentally noted to bump it up in priority. But when my eleven year-old sister informed me it was ‘the best book she had ever read,’ I gave in, picked it up, and started reading. I knew after just a few pages that I had a truly special book in my hands. When I finished it the other night at 1 AM, tears were rolling down my face in, let’s just say, not insignificant quantity.
I’ve tried and tried to find a quick tagline to sell this amazing book, but on the surface, it sounds too simple to be exciting: this boy with a very strange and even frightening face goes to school. Predictable reactions ensue, and things happen.
But the magic of this book is in the writing, it’s in the voices of the people who fill it. Each character, major or minor, is vividly drawn and wholly believable. Human, flawed (some more than others), honest, hilarious, and reflective—one thing I loved about this book was the rapid shifts from one perspective to another. Though at first we meet main character August, we soon hear the story told just as fascinatingly from his new friends at school, his sister, even his sister’s friends.
The story’s overriding theme of Kindness is a dangerous one—how, oh how, can one write a book for kids about “being kind” that doesn’t make your teeth hurt from the saccharine? Yet Palacio has done it, I promise you. And she does it by not ignoring the ugly parts; neither August’s reality nor the imperfect actions of even those who love him most. This, in the end, gives the story just enough ambiguity to make it sing.
There is some buzz in the children’s lit blog world that this book is a frontrunner for the 2013 Newbery Medal, and I would be downright shocked if it weren’t at least given an Honor. It is rare indeed to find a novel such as this one that is both ‘important’ AND entertaining—for both kids AND adults.
Even if your child is a reluctant, Wimpy Kid type of reader; please put this book in their hands. It is so important, especially in this age of disconnectedness and online bullying, as kids become more and more distanced from each other, to give them an opportunity to explore what it really feels like to be different. Fourth through eighth grade students are making choices, conscious or not, about what kind of person they are going to be. This book will make them laugh out loud and maybe even cry, and it will also raise their consciousness as they make tough decisions in their social lives at school, decisions that call on them to be braver than they’ll ever have to be as adults.
Short, snappy chapters, plenty of jokes, authentic kid voices (avoiding the dreaded ‘grown-up trying to sound like a kid’ doom that haunts so many might-have-been-great books), and social tension to make you suck in your breath and clench your fists (maybe especially for us grown-ups who had buried those memories deep, deep down) will keep the pages turning—and when the kids are done, I hope you’ll pick it up and read it for yourself.
It’s well worth it. It’s truly a Wonder.
by Mandy
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