wonder book review guardian

Reading Ladies

Wonder [book review].

October 27, 2017

***This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Heart, Heroes, and Humor…

You were probably an ordinary kid.

Did you ever experience a terrifying first day in a new school?

Consider Auggie. He feels ordinary inside but no one else sees him as ordinary. As he expresses:

“Kids don’t scream and run away if you’re ordinary….they don’t stare.”

This is the advice 10-year-old August Pullman receives from his parents on the first day of school:

“There are always going to be jerks in the world, Auggie,” she said, looking at me. “But I really believe, and Daddy really believes, that there are more good people on this earth than bad people, and the good people watch out for each other and take care of each other.”

Because the movie Wonde r releases in theaters on November 17, 2017, it seems timely to read or reread and review.

Movie Trailer here.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Genre/categories: Middle grade through adult contemporary fiction,  growing up, difficult discussions, family life, friendship, compassion, character traits

On the inside, ten-year-old August Pullman feels very ordinary. But as he says, ordinary kids don’t make other kids run away screaming and they don’t get stared at wherever they go. Auggie was born with a rare genetic abnormality that affected the formation of his face. Because of extensive surgeries and an attempt to protect him from cruelties of the outside world, Auggie’s parents have homeschooled him. The reader meets 5th grade Auggie as he’s being enrolled in a traditional school for the first time. Will he be accepted? Will he find friends? Will he find a hostile or friendly environment? How will adults in his life support him? The story is told from six perspectives (August, Via–his older sister, Summer–a friendly caring peer, Jack–a student leader who struggles in his role as a friend, Miranda–his sister’s best friend and a close family friend, and Justin–Miranda’s boyfriend) plus a bonus chapter from Julian’s point of view (Auggie’s nemesis).

Amazon (October) Rating: (an amazing) 4.9 Stars

My Thoughts:

If you plan to see the movie, don’t miss out on reading the book first!  It’s an easy, engaging, thoughtful, inspirational, and meaningful read with valuable discussion possibilities for the entire family. Wonder on DVD .

As we venture to school with Auggie, we feel his daily apprehension and celebrate his courage and determination. Even though he thinks of himself on the inside as an ordinary kid, we know he doesn’t look ordinary and his severe facial abnormality could cause him to be the object of unkind actions by his peers and to experience bullying.

Throughout Wonder , the narrative changes perspectives with each chapter. This helps us get a 360 degree understanding of Auggie’s world and also allows us to see the nice circle of people who care for him and support him. In addition, it allows the reader to understand that everyone battles something. Because this is written for a children’s audience, it does have a happy ending where ‘good” people are rewarded and the “bad” get their punishment. I like that there is an epilogue (extra chapter) in the current version of the book that follows Auggie’s nemesis Julian and we see how Julian changes and grows in empathy and compassion

Wonder takes a dramatic turn when Auggie overhears his friend Jack’s derogatory remarks about him; he is discouraged and devastated, and everything changes as he has to fight to rebuild what he’s lost. Through these authentic middle-grade voices, we learn about true friendship, risk, and the importance of kindness.

I especially admire Auggies’s English teacher who each month presents the idea of precepts to live by and encourages students to write their own…an example of a precept he presents is “When given the choice between being right or kind, choose kind.” In an attempt to establish the habit of writing precepts as a lifelong practice, he encourages students to email their precepts to him in the years after graduation. Auggie’s 5th-grade precept is “Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation once in their lives because we all overcometh the world.”

The following is a sampling of the types of quotes you will find from the adults in the story:

“Kinder than necessary,” he repeated. “What a marvelous line, isn’t it? Kinder than is necessary. Because it’s not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed. Why I love that line, that concept is that it reminds me that we carry with us, as human beings, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness. And what does that mean? How is that measured? You can’t use a yardstick. It’s like I was saying just before: it’s not like measuring how much you’ve grown in a year. It’s not exactly quantifiable, is it? How do we know we’ve been kind? What is being kind, anyway?” “….If every single person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary–the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.” “It’s not just the nature of kindness, but the nature of one’s kindness. The power of one’s friendship. The test of one’s character. The strength of one’s courage–” 

Don’t miss out on this inspirational story filled with heart, heroes, and humor and which inspired the Kindness Movement . I expect that Wonder will become a beloved classic in upper-grade classrooms and in family libraries. Highly recommended for every reader who believes in the power of teaching through a story and for every family who is in the process of building empathy, compassion, and kindness. Wonder would make a great parent/child buddy read. I believe good literature and timeless themes can be enjoyed by all ages!

“Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, propel us, on occasion, to greatness.”

My rating: 4.5 stars (rounded to 5)

Wonder Information Here.

There is an additional book, Auggie & Me . It’s not a sequel, rather a companion read and an extension of Auggie’s world with three additional points of view.

More Information about Auggie & Me Here.

The Kindness Movement and Sign the Pledge Here.

The author interviews kids about kindness here.

Wonder Movie Trailer here.

Wonder on DVD .

Meet the Author, R. J. Palacio

R. J. Palacio was born and raised in New York City. She attended the High School of Art and Design and the Parsons School of Design, where she majored in illustration with the hopes of someday following in the footsteps of her favorite childhood author-illustrators, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Maurice Sendak, and the D’Aulaires. She was a graphic designer and art director for many years before writing Wonder. We’re All Wonders, which is based conceptually on the themes of her novel, represents the fulfillment of her dream to write and illustrate her own picture book. R.J. is also the author of Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories and 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Book of Precepts. She lives in Brooklyn, where she is surrounded by magical water towers, with her husband, their two sons, and their two dogs, Bear and Beau. Learn more about her at rjpalacio.com or on Twitter at @RJPalacio.

I’m curious if you’ve read Wonder !

Do you have children that have read it? I’d love to hear your (or their) reflection.

Do you plan to see the movie ?

How do you feel about teaching character traits such as empathy and kindness through literature?

What are you reading this week?

Happy Reading Bookworms!

“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke

“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.” ~Denise J Hughes

“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.” ~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.” ~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text

In my last post, I indicated that I would read and review If the Creek Don’t Rise . I did read it; however, I decided that Wonder would be the primary focus of my review this week so that I can encourage you to read it before the movie releases. Here’s my brief review of If the Creek Don’t Rise .

 If The Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss

Genre/categories: Historical Fiction, Small Town, Rural, Appalachia, Hillbilly Culture

Young Sadie Blue lives in the North Carolina mountain town of Baines Creek and suffers abuse at the hands of her drunken husband, Roy Tupkin. When a new teacher comes to town, Sadie begins to think of finding her voice and of a life that doesn’t include Roy.

Amazon Rating: 4.5 Stars

Harsh and hard realities of life in this remote Appalachian community make If the Creek Don’t Rise a gritty and sobering read. Young Sadie Blue is pregnant, abused, mistreated, and struggling to find her voice. Only a few chapters are from Sadie’s POV. The story is told from multiple viewpoints giving readers a good perspective of her life and the hillbilly community. Some characters offer hope and healing while others are despicable. Sadie does find her voice in a way that surprised me (but maybe it shouldn’t have given her situation and the hillbilly culture). As a teacher, I hoped to learn more about the new teacher’s contribution to the youth of the community….I’m always looking for hope and redemption in a story….but after the teacher’s strong introduction, she fades into the background of the story. This is also disappointing because she is important to Sadie. Overall, I enjoyed the read and the excellent writing; however, it’s not a read that everyone would enjoy. It’s gritty and a bit dark but certainly an impressive debut novel. I would encourage you to read additional reviews.

My Rating: 4 Stars

If the Creek Don’t Rise Information Here.

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17 comments.

[…] Review Here. […]

[…] My Full Review Here […]

[…] I’ve heard enthusiastic reviews! It’s on my weekend “must do” list. See my book summary and review here. Movie trailer […]

[…] […]

[…] Full Review and Amazon Information Here. […]

[…] Full Review Here Amazon Information Here Movie Trailer Here […]

[…] Wonder by R.J. Palacio Genre: Fiction (Categories: physical differences, kindness, compassion, acceptance) My Rating: 5 Stars Wonder has been positively reviewed by parents, teachers, and children,  it inspired the national “Choose Kind” campaign, and many of you have seen the movie. However, if you haven’t read the book, I think it’s a must read experience for everyone! This easy to read, engaging, and thought-provoking read paves the way for grand discussions and builds compassion and empathy…..I believe that the best teaching occurs within the context of a story. My full review here. […]

[…] Wonder falls into the category of “A Must Read For Everyone.” The themes of kindness, compassion, and acceptance are universal. (review) […]

[…] Auggie and Jack in Wonder by R.J. Palacio (my review) […]

[…] Mercy), Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud (Refugee), Billie Jo (Out of the Dust), Louis (Unbroken), Augie (Wonder), Rahima (The Pearl That Broke Its Shell), Ada (The War That Saved My Life, The War I Finally Won), […]

[…] Wonder falls into the category of “A Must Read For Everyone.” The themes of kindness, compassion, and acceptance are universal. (my review) […]

[…] Wonder by R.J. Palacio […]

[…] Continue reading my review of Wonder to see what I loved…. […]

[…] by Starlight by Sharon Draper (racism, prejudice), Refugee (12+) by Alan Gratz (refugee crisis), Wonder by R.J. Palacio (physical differences), Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai (scroll down page for review) […]

[…] Wonder by R.J. Palacio (compassion, acceptance, kindness) My review of Wonder here. […]

[…] Wonder, R.J. […]

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Awards & Accolades

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New York Times Bestseller

by R.J. Palacio ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2012

A memorable story of kindness, courage and wonder.

After being home-schooled for years, Auggie Pullman is about to start fifth grade, but he’s worried: How will he fit into middle school life when he looks so different from everyone else?

Auggie has had 27 surgeries to correct facial anomalies he was born with, but he still has a face that has earned him such cruel nicknames as Freak, Freddy Krueger, Gross-out and Lizard face. Though “his features look like they’ve been melted, like the drippings on a candle” and he’s used to people averting their eyes when they see him, he’s an engaging boy who feels pretty ordinary inside. He’s smart, funny, kind and brave, but his father says that having Auggie attend Beecher Prep would be like sending “a lamb to the slaughter.” Palacio divides the novel into eight parts, interspersing Auggie’s first-person narrative with the voices of family members and classmates, wisely expanding the story beyond Auggie’s viewpoint and demonstrating that Auggie’s arrival at school doesn’t test only him, it affects everyone in the community. Auggie may be finding his place in the world, but that world must find a way to make room for him, too.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-375-86902-0

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2011

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING

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BOOK REVIEW

by R.J. Palacio

by R.J. Palacio ; illustrated by R.J. Palacio with K Czap

by R.J. Palacio ; illustrated by R.J. Palacio

More About This Book

CHARLOTTE'S WEB

by E.B. White illustrated by Garth Williams ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1952

The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...

A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.

Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952

ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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by E.B. White & illustrated by Maggie Kneen

by E.B. White illustrated by Fred Marcellino

by E.B. White illustrated by Garth Williams

PERSPECTIVES

SEEN & HEARD

by Gordon Korman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 30, 2017

Korman’s trademark humor makes this an appealing read.

Will a bully always be a bully?

That’s the question eighth-grade football captain Chase Ambrose has to answer for himself after a fall from his roof leaves him with no memory of who and what he was. When he returns to Hiawassee Middle School, everything and everyone is new. The football players can hardly wait for him to come back to lead the team. Two, Bear Bratsky and Aaron Hakimian, seem to be special friends, but he’s not sure what they share. Other classmates seem fearful; he doesn’t know why. Temporarily barred from football because of his concussion, he finds a new home in the video club and, over time, develops a new reputation. He shoots videos with former bullying target Brendan Espinoza and even with Shoshanna Weber, who’d hated him passionately for persecuting her twin brother, Joel. Chase voluntarily continues visiting the nursing home where he’d been ordered to do community service before his fall, making a special friend of a decorated Korean War veteran. As his memories slowly return and he begins to piece together his former life, he’s appalled. His crimes were worse than bullying. Will he become that kind of person again? Set in the present day and told in the alternating voices of Chase and several classmates, this finding-your-middle-school-identity story explores provocative territory. Aside from naming conventions, the book subscribes to the white default.

Pub Date: May 30, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-338-05377-7

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: March 19, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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by Gordon Korman

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By R. J. Palacio

This novel is a heartwarming tale of kindess and empathy and a boy with a facial deformity making friends and growing to self-acceptance.

•  August's journey from insecurity to self-acceptance is deeply moving and relatable.
• Multi-narrative structure with diverse perspectives enrich the story
• The novel effectively develops the themes of kindness, empathy, and acceptance.
• The development of the plot is predictable
• The tone is overly didactic
• The antagonist is underdeveloped; there is no visible motive for his actions

Bottom Line

"Wonder" is a heartwarming and impactful novel that emphasizes the importance of kindness and acceptance. While it can be predictable and didactic, its strong character development and powerful themes make it a memorable read, particularly for young audiences. The book’s message of empathy and inclusivity resonates long after the final page, making it a valuable addition to contemporary young adult literature.

Rating [book_review_rating]

Continue down for the complete review to Wonder

Article written by Ebuka Igbokwe

Bachelor's degree from Nnamdi Azikiwe University.

It is bad enough that August Pullman is born with a disfiguring disease that deforms his face, makes hearing difficult, and has him needing twenty-seven surgeries before the age of ten to give him a chance at life. It is undoubtedly worse to have him begin school and face discrimination at the hands of his classmates, Julian in particular. Thankfully, he has his family and a couple of friends like Summer and Jack Will, who care for and support him.

R. J. Palacio , the author of ‘ Wonder ,’ was inspired to write this novel from experience in her life. She stopped at an ice cream stand on a trip to see an out-of-town friend with her two sons. Sitting with her mother, there was a girl with a facial deformity. Her younger son began to cry. Palacio hurried her children away. Reflecting on the incident, she believed she could have handled it better. It also made her wonder what sort of life the little girl faced if this reaction was typical.

In “ Wonder “, August Pullman has Treacher-Collins Syndrome , a congenital craniofacial disease that leaves him deformed, and frequent hospitalization keeps him out of school. But he is finally ready to begin school in the fifth grade. He has received shocked stares and discrimination based on his looks, but this happens differently in school. However, he makes a few friends, like Summer Dawson and Jack Wills, and he has the understanding, empathy, and support of family and perseveres. School bully Julian Albans is particularly malicious, calling him names and instigating classmates to avoid him and treat him as a pariah. Soon enough, however, more of his classmates recognized him for the bright, funny, and brave boy he was.

The central premise of “ Wonder” is emotionally charged and unique. The story follows August Pullman, a young boy with facial deformities, as he navigates the challenges of attending public school for the first time. This premise immediately captures readers’ attention and sets the stage for a narrative exploring themes of acceptance and empathy.

The plot is emotionally engaging and uniquely portrays individuals’ difficulties with visible differences. For example, when August first arrives at school, he encounters a range of reactions from his classmates, from curiosity and fear to outright bullying, particularly by Julian, who leads a campaign to ostracize him. The novel’s trajectory is somewhat predictable, as readers anticipate that his peers will eventually accept August. This predictability is exemplified in the novel’s climax when August wins the Henry Ward Beecher medal, a symbolic moment that marks his acceptance and recognition by his school community.

While the plot is heart-warming, it can also feel idealized. Conflicts are often resolved in a manner that might not reflect the complexities of real life. For instance, the reconciliation between August’s sister, Via, and her friend, Miranda, is handled quickly, with little exploration of the underlying issues that caused their estrangement. Similarly, August’s transformation from an outcast to a beloved figure at school happens rapidly, which might strike some readers as overly optimistic.

Wonder explores several significant themes, including kindness, acceptance, bullying, and the challenges of living with a disability. The novel strongly emphasizes the power of kindness, as seen in the way characters like Summer Dawson and Jack Will choose to befriend August despite the social risks involved. Summer’s decision to sit with August at lunch on his first day is a pivotal moment that sets the tone for the novel’s message about the importance of empathy.

The theme of acceptance is central to the novel, as August struggles with his desire to be seen as “ordinary” despite his extraordinary appearance. This theme is reflected in August’s words when he says, “I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid… I do ordinary things. I feel ordinary inside. But I know ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds.”

Palacio’s treatment of themes like kindness, social acceptance of those living with disabilities, and bullying in schools in “ Wonder ” shows a keen feeling for contemporary social issues. Interestingly, she handles the issues with faith in our humanity as the best address for them, rather than advocating for policy intervention by the government or school disciplinary bodies. Being kind is Palacio’s simple solution; she trusts it will make a significant impact.

However, the treatment of the themes of “ Wonder ” can be a bit on the nose and lack subtlety. For example, the precepts introduced by Mr. Browne, such as “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind,” are moralizing. The message is driven with the force of a crusader, and the characters are only vehicles for delivering a piece of moral instruction. The book can also be criticized for romanticizing the fact of living with disabilities to tell an inspirational tale.

“ Wonder ” excels in presenting characters from diverse backgrounds. The range of characters , each with their personalities and perspectives, enriches the storytelling and allows readers to gain insights into different lives and experiences.

August is a compelling protagonist whose internal struggles and outward challenges make him relatable to readers of all ages. His growth from a shy, insecure boy to a more confident individual is one of the novel’s most rewarding aspects. This transformation is highlighted in moments such as when August bravely decides to attend the school’s nature retreat, despite his fears of being ostracized.

Supporting characters like Via, Summer, Jack, and Julian add depth to the story. Via’s perspective provides insight into the challenges of siblings of children with disabilities. Her internal conflict is poignantly expressed when she reflects on the need to step out of August’s shadow and be seen as more than “the sister of the boy with the deformed face.”

Jack Will’s character undergoes significant development as well. Initially, he befriends August out of a sense of duty. Still, he eventually comes to genuinely care for him, as seen in his defense of August during the altercation with older students at the retreat. Jack’s journey from being influenced by peer pressure to standing up for what is right adds another layer of complexity to the novel.

Julian, the primary antagonist, is somewhat less developed. Although his role as the school bully is essential to the plot, his motivations are not explored in depth, making him appear more as a symbol of cruelty than a fully realized character. His actions, such as starting the “Plague” game to avoid touching August, are extreme, but his character lacks the nuance to explain why he behaves this way.

Palacio’s writing style in “ Wonder ” is accessible and engaging, making it an enjoyable read for a wide audience. The use of multiple narrators, including August, Via, Summer, Jack, and Miranda, provides a well-rounded perspective on the novel’s events. This multi-narrative structure allows readers to understand the impact of August’s presence on those around him, and it adds depth to the story by offering insights into each character’s inner world.

The first-person narrative is conversational, which creates a sense of intimacy between the characters and the reader. August’s voice, in particular, is authentic and relatable, filled with humor and resilience despite his hardships. For example, his self-deprecating humor is evident when he quips, “I’m used to not fitting in. The way I see it, I’m not ordinary and neither are you.”

However, the dialogue can sometimes become overly didactic, especially in scenes where characters deliver moral lessons. Mr. Tushman’s speech at the end of the novel, for instance, while uplifting, reads more like a sermon than a natural conversation. This can detract from the realism of the interactions.

The novel’s structure, divided into sections narrated by different characters, effectively maintains the reader’s interest and provides a comprehensive view of the story. The pacing is generally well-balanced, with moments of tension, such as August’s first day at school or the confrontation at the nature retreat, interspersed with quieter, more introspective scenes.

However, the narrative occasionally slows down, particularly during lengthy dialogues or when certain moral themes are reiterated. For instance, while meaningful, the scenes involving Mr. Browne’s precepts can feel repetitive, slowing the story’s momentum.

The setting of “ Wonder ” primarily focuses on Beecher Prep, a typical middle school that serves as the backdrop for August’s challenges and triumphs. The school environment is portrayed with authenticity, capturing the dynamics of preteen social interactions, cliques, and the struggles of fitting in. This setting is relatable for the novel’s target audience and evokes memories of school life for older readers.

Palacio’s attention to detail in depicting the school’s atmosphere, from the cafeteria to the hallways, adds to the novel’s realism. The nature retreat setting also provides a significant turning point in the story, where August’s classmates begin to see him in a new light, further solidifying the novel’s themes of acceptance and friendship.

One of the strengths of “ Wonder ” is its character development, particularly with August, whose growth from insecurity to self-acceptance is compelling. Also, the multi-narrative structure enriches the story by providing diverse perspectives, deepening the reader’s connection with the characters. The novel’s themes of kindness, acceptance, and empathy are positive and powerful, offering hope and guidance to kids.

On the minus side, the plot can be predictable, following a familiar arc of an ugly duckling turning into a beautiful goose, and it is very formulaic. While impactful, Palacio’s treatment of themes can be overly didactic, with moral lessons presented in a way that leaves little room for interpretation. Finally, some characters, especially the antagonist Julian, feel underdeveloped, serving more as symbols than fully realized individuals with believable motives.

“ Wonder ” profoundly impacts its readers by highlighting the importance of kindness, acceptance, and empathy in the face of adversity. The novel encourages readers to look beyond outward appearances and embrace the humanity in everyone, making it a poignant and relevant read for all ages. Its success in fostering discussions about inclusivity and kindness, particularly through the Choose Kind movement, underscores its significant cultural and social impact. Despite its predictability and didactic approach, “ Wonder ” is a memorable and powerful novel that resonates with worldwide readers.

Wonder: A Message to Choose Kindness

Book Title: Wonder

Book Description: 'Wonder' by R. J. Palacio follows the story of August Pullman, a ten-year-old boy with facial disfigurement, as he faces the challenges of attending a regular school for the first time. Through August's and other characters' experiences, the novel explores themes of empathy, acceptance, and how kindness has the power to transform people and society, and leaves readers with the profound message of the importance of seeing people beyond their pyhysical appearances.

Book Author: R. J. Palacio

Book Edition: First Export Edition

Book Format: Paperback

Publisher - Organization: Alfred A Knopf

Date published: July 1, 2014

Illustrator: Tad Carpenter

ISBN: 9780553509977

Number Of Pages: 315

• Writing Style
• Lasting Effect on Reader

Wonder Review

‘ Wonder ‘ by R. J. Palacio is didactic but relatable, and tells about disability in a warm and inviting tone, easy prose and with personable characters. This makes for a very pleasant read for children.

• Light and easy read
• Emotionally stimulating
• Multi-perspective storytelling
• Romanticizes disability
• Too neatly resolved conflicts

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About Ebuka Igbokwe

Ebuka Igbokwe is the founder and former leader of a book club, the Liber Book Club, in 2016 and managed it for four years. Ebuka has also authored several children's books. He shares philosophical insights on his newsletter, Carefree Sketches and has published several short stories on a few literary blogs online.

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'Wonder' Book Review

R.J. Palacio's Novel of Bullying and Acceptance

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"Wonder," R.J. Palacio's debut novel, was written for children 8 to 12 years old, but its message defies genres . Published in 2012, its anti-bullying, pro-acceptance message will resonate with teenagers and even adults as well.

Some books are action-packed, compelling the reader to turn the page to find out what happens next. Other books are compelling because they invite readers to engage with characters who are real, who come alive off the page, and who pull the reader into their story. "Wonder" is the latter kind of book. In fact, very little "action" happens within its pages, and yet readers will find themselves deeply affected by the story.

August Pullman (Auggie to his friends) is not an ordinary 10-year-old boy. He feels like one and has the interests of one, but his face is not ordinary at all. In fact, it's the type of face that scares kids and makes people stare. Auggie is pretty good natured about it all. This is the way he is, after all, and while he doesn’t like that people stare, there’s not much he can do about it.

Because his face has required many reconstructive surgeries, Auggie has been homeschooled . But there are no more surgeries to be done for a while, and now August’s parents think it’s time that he goes to mainstream school, beginning with fifth grade in the fall. The idea of this terrifies Auggie; he knows how people react to seeing him, and he wonders if he will be able to fit in at school at all.

He bravely gives it a go, but finds that it’s much like he expected. Many of the children laugh at him behind his back, and someone has started a game called the Plague, in which people “catch” a “disease” if they touch Auggie. One boy, Julian, leads the bullying attacks. He’s the sort of kid whom adults find charming, but in reality, he is quite mean to anyone not in his circle of friends.

Auggie does make two close friends: Summer, a girl who actually likes Auggie for who he is, and Jack. Jack started out as Auggie’s “assigned” friend, and when Auggie finds this out, he and Jack have a falling out. However, they patch things up at Christmas, after Jack gets suspended for hitting Julian for badmouthing Auggie.

This leads to a “war," with the popular boys against Auggie and Jack. While nothing more than mean words, in the form of notes in the lockers, fly between the two camps, the tension between them lasts until the spring. Then there's a confrontation between a group of older boys from a different school and Auggie and Jack at a sleep-away camp. They are hopelessly outnumbered until a group of boys who were formerly against Auggie and Jack help defend them from the bullies.

In the end, Auggie has a successful year at school, and even makes the Honor Roll. In addition, the school gives him an award for courage, which he doesn't understand, musing, “If they want to give me a medal for being me, I’ll take it.” (p. 306) He sees himself as ordinary, and in the face of everything else, he really is just that: an ordinary kid.

It‘s the straightforward, non-sentimental manner in which Palacio approaches her topic that makes this such an excellent book. Auggie might have an extraordinary face, but he's a regular kid, and that makes him relatable, in spite of his challenges. Palacio also shifts her point of view, telling the story through the eyes of characters other than Auggie. This allows the reader to get to know characters like Auggie's sister, Via, who talks about the way her brother takes over the family’s life. However, some of the other viewpoints—especially of Via’s friends—feel somewhat unnecessary and bog down the middle of the book.

The power of the book likes in how Palacio creates such a normal, relatable character from a boy living with such an extraordinary physical affliction. Even though "Wonder" is recommended for children ages 8 through 12, the book's themes of identity, bullying, and acceptance make it interesting reading for a wide audience as well.

About R.J. Palacio

An art director by profession, R. J. Palacio first thought of the idea for "Wonder" when she and her children were on vacation. While there, they saw a young girl who had a condition similar to Auggie’s. Her children reacted badly, which got Palacio thinking about the girl and what she goes through on a daily basis. Palacio also thought about how she could have better taught her children to respond to situations like this.

The book inspired Random House to start an anti-bullying campaign, called Choose Kind , with a site where people can share their experiences and sign a pledge to stamp out bullying. There you can also download an excellent Educator Guide for Wonder to use at home, or with a community grouop.

Companion Book

"Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories ," also by R. J. Palacio, is a 320-page collection of three stories, each told from the point of view of one of three characters from "Wonder": the bully Julian, Auggie’s oldest friend, Christopher, and his new friend, Charlotte. The stories take place prior to Auggie’s attending school and during his first year there.

This book is neither a prequel nor a sequel to "Wonder"—in fact, Palacio has made it clear that she does not plan to ever write either. Instead, this book is meant as a companion for those who have already read "Wonder" and want to extend the experience by learning more about Auggie's impact on the people around him.

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Book Review

• R.J. Palacio
• Coming-of-Age , Contemporary , Drama

Readability Age Range

• Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House Inc.
• School Library Journal, Top 100 Children's Novels, 2012; Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2012

Year Published

Wonder by R.J. Palacio has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine .

Plot Summary

Like hundreds of other students in Manhattan, August Pullman is starting fifth grade. But August is no ordinary 10-year-old. He’s had 27 surgeries since birth, all on his face. August was born with a severe craniofacial abnormality. Despite his many surgeries, he doesn’t — and will never — look normal. Children (and sometimes adults) who catch a glimpse of his face either stare or turn away quickly in shock and horror. This year will be August’s first at a mainstream school. His mom thinks the experience will be good for him, but his dad disagrees. He says that sending August to school is like leading a lamb to the slaughter. August isn’t sure what that means.

Before school begins, August’s mom takes him to his new school, Beecher Prep, to meet the principal and get a tour from three of his new classmates — Jack, Julian and Charlotte. Jack and Charlotte are nice, but Julian asks August if he was burned in a fire. When school begins, Jack sits beside August in every class, and the two boys quickly become good friends. August also makes friends with a girl named Summer, the only student in the whole school brave enough to sit with him at lunch. And while only Julian is deliberately mean, August still has to cope with hundreds of secret stares and watch his peers elbow each other and whisper about him from behind cupped hands.

When August has a birthday party, he invites everyone in his class, but only six of them come. He also learns that nobody wants to touch him, and if someone does accidentally brush up against him, they run away quickly to wash their hands. Even the parents get involved — Julian’s mom photoshops August out of the class photo and distributes copies to other parents.

Fortunately, one of August’s favorite holidays, Halloween, is approaching. He plans to dress up like a Star Wars character, but at the last minute, he changes his mind and wears another costume instead — the Bleeding Scream. When he arrives at school, no one knows it’s him under his mask, and he overhears Jack telling Julian that he only hangs out with August because the principal asked him to, and that if he looked like August, he would kill himself. August feels nauseous after hearing this and goes home sick. He tells Summer and his sister, Via, what happened but swears them to secrecy and refuses to talk to Jack for more than a month.

Meanwhile, Via is having troubles of her own. Via has always felt defined by August, and she was looking forward to attending a new high school where people would call her by her real name, Olivia, and where no one knew her family — except for her two best friends, Miranda and Ella. But on the first day of school, Via realizes that her “friends” have created a new image for themselves over the summer — one that doesn’t include her. They ditch Via as soon as possible to pursue their quest for high school popularity. Because Miranda has always acted like a big sister to August, this creates tension between Via and August, especially when Miranda calls August to say hello but refuses to hang out with Via at school.

When Via learns about what Jack said about August, she consoles August and talks him into trick-or-treating with her.

Summer is also paying the price for being August’s friend. One of the popular girls invites Summer to a Halloween party — but when she arrives, everyone wants to quiz her about why she hangs out with August. They tell her that if she didn’t hang out with him, she would be popular, too — and Julian might even ask her to be his girlfriend. Summer leaves the party early but stays friends with August. When Jack asks her why August won’t talk to him, she gives him a hint: “Bleeding Scream.”

It’s true that the principal asked Jack to befriend August at the beginning of the school year. At first, he was reluctant to agree. But after getting to know August personally, Jack realizes that August is the best friend he would have chosen for himself anyway. So when August stops hanging out with him, he wonders why. Although Jack enjoys his increased popularity, he doesn’t really like Julian and his crowd. He doesn’t fit in because their families are much wealthier than his, and his grades drop without August there to help him. In science class, the teacher assigns a project for the upcoming science fair, and Jack imagines his face screaming on the inside. Suddenly, he remembers Summer’s hint (Bleeding Scream) and realizes that August is mad at him because of what he said on Halloween. After class, Julian calls August a freak. Jack punches Julian in the mouth and knocks out a tooth.

Since there are just a few days before the Christmas holidays, Jack is suspended until January. A flurry of emails are sent, and Julian’s parents express their concern that perhaps August shouldn’t have been admitted to Beecher Prep and that it was too much pressure to expect Jack and Julian to befriend August back in September. Mr. Tushman, the principal, and Jack’s parents disagree with Julian’s parents. Jack re-friends August on Facebook, and he apologizes for what he said on Halloween. After asking if Jack really punched Julian, August accepts his apology, and the two boys become better friends than ever.

In January, Charlotte tells Jack that the entire fifth-grade male population is at war. It’s Jack and August versus Julian and his two sidekicks, Miles and Henry. Most of the boys are on Julian’s side, but there are a handful of neutral boys. Jack learns for the first time what it’s like for people to treat him as if he doesn’t exist. Julian puts mean notes in Jack’s and August’s lockers, and they respond by putting fake love notes in his locker.

At August’s house working on their science project, Jack and August meet Via’s new boyfriend, Justin. They think his fiddle case looks like it might hold a machine gun, and they think it’s funny that he plays in a Louisiana-style band when he’s from Brooklyn. On his way home, Justin sees Julian and his friends making fun of Jack. Jack tells Justin about the war. After Jack leaves, Justin holds his fiddle case menacingly and tells Julian not to mess with Jack or he and his friends will be sorry.

The tricks Julian plays on Jack become meaner, and fifth-graders start becoming tired of the war. Even Amos, one of Julian’s friends, stops Julian from emptying his pencil shavings into Jack’s backpack. When Julian spreads a rumor that Jack has hired a hit man to get him, people start laughing at Julian behind his back. By springtime, only Miles and Henry are on Julian’s side, and more of his classmates are being nice to Jack and August. They don’t even tease August about the hearing aids he has started to wear.

But at home, Via and August are fighting because Via didn’t want to tell August about the school play Justin and Miranda are starring in. (Via is Miranda’s understudy.) When August finds out, Via wants to invite him, but her parents are trying to respect her feelings by not inviting him. Then their dog, Daisy, must be euthanized because she is old and sick. A few days later, Via brings home three tickets to the play, and nothing more is said.

When Miranda sees that Via’s family is in attendance at the play, she pretends to be ill so Via can play her role instead. Miranda’s parents aren’t there to see her — they divorced the summer before Miranda started high school. When she went away to camp that summer, she pretended that August was her little brother instead of Via’s. The lie made her popular, and she began hanging out with the cool crowd who smoked and sneaked through the woods at night to hang out with boys. When Miranda got back home, she felt embarrassed about her lie and didn’t want Via to find out, so she started hanging out with Ella instead. After the play, Miranda sees August get lost in the crowd, and she brings him back to his parents. She and Via make up and become friends again.

At the end of the year, the entire fifth grade goes on a three-day nature retreat. At first, August is nervous about being away from home overnight, but when he learns that Julian opted out of the trip because he thought it was dorky, August is overjoyed. He has the time of his life until the second night of the trip, when the fifth-grade students watch an outdoor movie on the fairgrounds with students from several other schools. Midway through The Sound of Music, Jack and August have to use the restroom. Instead of waiting in the long lineup for the toilets, they go quietly in the woods, as do Amos, Miles and Henry.

On their way back to the movie, they run into a group of seventh-grade students from another school, who immediately start making fun of August. They push Jack to the ground and yank August’s hoodie so he falls flat on his back. Amos, Miles and Henry stand up for Jack and August, pushing the seventh-graders out of the way so Jack and August can escape into the cornfields that surround the fairgrounds. August’s sweatshirt is torn and his elbow is bleeding. When he realizes that his hearing aids are gone, August can’t help but cry. But instead of making fun of him, the other boys pat him on the back and Amos lets him cry on his shoulder. August finally realizes what his dad meant when he talked about leading a lamb to the slaughter.

The boys walk back to camp together surrounding August like a guard, and news of their encounter spreads quickly among the fifth-graders. Suddenly everyone is concerned about August, even students he didn’t know well. When the fifth-graders return home, August tells his mom about his misadventures. Then his dad and Via arrive home together, carrying a big, white box and tell August to open it. Inside is a little, black puppy looking up at him.

When August returns to school, the war is over. Because Julian missed the nature retreat, he is no longer as popular as before, and Miles and Henry become Amos’ best friends, instead of Julian’s. No one ignores August or Jack anymore, and August gets used to knuckle-punching jocks in the hallway and being called “little dude” by students he barely knows.

At the end-of-year graduation ceremony, August wins an award for being an exemplary student, not just academically but personally as well. Everyone cheers for him, and August finally feels like an ordinary kid — even though he knows no one else sees him that way. At the reception, his picture is taken with his friends and classmates, and nobody minds who is touching whom. When they walk home for cake and ice cream, August thanks his mom for making him go to school. She thanks him for being him — and tells him that he is a wonder.

Christian Beliefs

August reads Christian authors, namely Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe . Excerpts of both appear in the book. Jack’s baby sitter, after seeing August, tells Jack to thank the Lord for his blessings. As part of his graduation speech, Mr. Tushman tells the fifth-grade students that if they are kinder than necessary, people will see in them the face of God — then broadens his statement to include any representation of divine goodness. August believes that his grandmother is in heaven.

Other Belief Systems

Summer believes in reincarnation. Miranda tells Justin that the universe wasn’t kind to August, but Justin believes that the universe takes care of its most fragile creatures. The fifth-graders do a project on ancient Egypt, which includes several of the Egyptian gods. August’s father is Jewish. Two students play Dungeons & Dragons at recess.

Authority Roles

Though August’s parents may argue about whether August is ready to attend school or if Via is old enough to ride the subway alone, they are ultimately united by their love for their children and their desire to see them develop as courageous and compassionate human beings. They share special nicknames and bedtime rituals, and while they remain closely involved in their children’s lives — attending school functions, listening carefully to their children talk about their days and working through problems and challenges together — they also encourage August and Via to spread their wings. August claims the bulk of his parents’ time, but when Via is upset, August’s mom drops everything to make her feel better. Before her grandmother’s death, Via also enjoys a special relationship with her grandmother.

The principal and teachers at Beecher Prep are kind and respectful to August and encourage their students to behave likewise, even calling students out on more subtle forms of social bullying, although they can’t catch everything. This positive school atmosphere is fostered by Mr. Tushman, the principal, who defends his choice to admit August when challenged by Julian’s parents. While firm, he is also fair, and he encourages the development of good character in all of his charges.

Profanity & Violence

Rough language and euphemisms include geez, heck, freak and shut up . There are also several misuses of God’s name.

At one point, Jack says he’d rather kill himself than look like Auggie, and Julian consistently puts down Auggie for his looks. He compares Auggie to a burn victim and leaves notes that tell Auggie how much people hate him. All of Julian’s notes are mean, and Julian is a bully to Jack and to Auggie. At one point, he gets the whole class to keep from touching Auggie in any way and later all the boys in the class to stay away from Jack.

August and Jack have a brief scuffle with several seventh-grade students before Amos, Henry and Miles come to their rescue. August’s sweatshirt is torn and bloodied, and he requires mild first-aid treatment.

Sexual Content

Jack tells August (on separate occasions) that Via and Summer are hot. Students as young as fifth grade are in dating relationships — although Summer’s mom thinks they’re too young to date. Via characterizes her and her friends’ physical development as not huge or flat. She has decided not to have children because they will carry the same gene that caused August’s abnormality. Miranda wears a tube top and sneaks through the woods at night to meet boys. Her parents divorced because her father was unfaithful.

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

Lying: Characters tell lies to get themselves out of sticky situations. August lets Jack copy his homework and then tells the teacher that they did it together. Via takes the subway without permission instead of getting a ride home with Miranda, then tells her mother she was late because she and Miranda stopped for pizza.

Smoking: At camp, Miranda smokes cigarettes.

Internet Use: Although they’re both under the minimum age of 13, Jack and August have Facebook accounts.

Crude Humor: Mr. Tushman’s name inspires several family jokes including several jocular remembrances of one of August’s parents’ old college professors, Miss Butt.

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Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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Reviews of Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio

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• First Published:
• Feb 14, 2012, 320 pages

• Young Adults
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• New York State
• Contemporary
• Parenting & Families
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About This Book

Book summary.

Wonder is a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next.

Winner of the BookBrowse 2012 Best Book for Younger Readers Award

I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school - until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances? R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels. Ages 8+

Ordinary I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an XBox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go. If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing. Here's what I think: the only reason I'm not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way. But I'm kind of used to how I look by now. I know how to pretend I don't see the faces people make. We've all gotten pretty good at that sort of thing: me, Mom and Dad, Via. Actually, I take that back: Via's not so good at it. She can get really annoyed when people do something rude. Like, ...

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Reader reviews, bookbrowse review.

Wonder rings its bell, and the note that reverberates in the air slips effortlessly into the reader's body. It hangs there, and the reader can't help but be changed. It is a meditation of a novel. A story that asks the reader to feel her way into kindness, empathy, and openness. And without a doubt, the reader, upon experiencing it, responds with a deep, resounding yes . Wonder is recommended for middle grade and young adult readers. It is a perfect book to open up discussions between students or book club members... continued

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Beyond the Book

R.j. palacio's inspiration for wonder.

Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. This is Auggie's statement on page one of Wonder about the appearance of his face. R.J. Palacio (whose real name is Raquel Jaramillo... Palacio is her mother's last name) makes a very conscious choice not to explore Auggie's disfigurement head-on, and I think it's a good one. Instead, she allows the reader to create her own images and then, very slowly and from a slanted sort of angle, Palacio gives details. Because at the heart of issue is, well, Auggie's heart, and that is all that matters. I don't want to dishonor Palacio's choice, but I will give you a bit of information about Auggie's condition. He has something called Mandibulofacial Dysostosis , which is more typically known as ...

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Moving tale of facially different boy with inner beauty.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Wonder is about 10-year-old August "Auggie" Pullman, who has a genetic facial difference. After being homeschooled, he enters school for the first time in fifth grade and has to cope with a range of reactions to his unusual appearance, as well as a lot of typical middle school drama…

Why Age 10+?

Auggie and a couple of his classmates come across some seventh-grade kids whom t

No curse words, but a lot of hate speech and insults. Other children call Auggie

Auggie's friend Jack Will punches another boy. Some seventh-grade kids pick on A

Auggie's high school-age sister, Via, has a boyfriend, and they kiss a few times

Any Positive Content?

Wonder has a powerful way of reminding readers that beauty is only skin deep. Th

Almost all of the adults in Wonder are strong role models for Auggie; his sister

Main character Auggie has a craniofacial condition, and the book centers around

Wonder's greatest lessons are more emotional or behavioral than academic. But th

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Auggie and a couple of his classmates come across some seventh-grade kids whom they observe smoking. It's not entirely clear whether they're smoking cigarettes or pot.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

No curse words, but a lot of hate speech and insults. Other children call Auggie an "alien," an "orc," and a "freak"; they slip notes into his locker telling him to "Get out of our school," and they pretend he has a contagious disease that they call the Plague. Auggie himself uses discriminatory language when he yells "I'm not retarded!"

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Auggie's friend Jack Will punches another boy. Some seventh-grade kids pick on Auggie and his friends, and physically assault them. Kids are pushed, bruised, and scraped, and a child's sweatshirt is torn; the violence in this scene is preceded by verbal abuse, which makes the physical attack especially disturbing. A family experiences the loss of a beloved pet.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Auggie's high school-age sister, Via, has a boyfriend, and they kiss a few times.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Wonder has a powerful way of reminding readers that beauty is only skin deep. The novel also offers lessons about the dangers of responding to peer pressure and the importance of simple human kindness. The precepts that Mr. Browne teaches his students also introduce various meaningful ideas.

Positive Role Models

Almost all of the adults in Wonder are strong role models for Auggie; his sister, Via; and their friends. Auggie's parents, in particular, are so loving, devoted, patient, and kind that their kids' friends wish they could join the Pullman family. Auggie's teachers and Mr. Tushman, the director of Beecher Prep, are caring educators who deftly ease Auggie out of some challenging situations but also let him find his own way socially. Auggie himself shows grace, as well as enough believable kid emotion to make him as convincing as he is admirable.

Diverse Representations

Main character Auggie has a craniofacial condition, and the book centers around his experiences. He's a complex character with realistic kid emotions and flaws. The rest of his family members provide great examples of how to support a loved one living with a visible disability. Though the novel stops short of endorsing disability hierarchy, it does unfortunately use casual ableism when Auggie yells, "I'm not retarded!" (It's never explained to Auggie that this isn't acceptable.) As written by female author R.J. Palacio, women in the book, such as Auggie's mom and sister, have important roles. Characters' ethnicities aren't made clear, but physical markers include Auggie's brown eyes, Via's "olive skin and the bluest eyes," and Mr. Tushman's "blue eyes with white eyelashes," and there are supporting characters with blond and brown hair. A minor character is named Mrs. Garcia.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Educational Value

Wonder 's greatest lessons are more emotional or behavioral than academic. But the book does go into some detail about genetics and the probability of a child developing physical differences like Auggie's. The novel also offers a telling look at middle school life and curriculum and a bit of information about the differences between middle school and high school culture. One of the teachers, Mr. Browne, teaches his students about precepts, and they discuss a new precept every month. Many of these are great life lessons from authors, spiritual leaders, and philosophers.

Parents need to know that Wonder is about 10-year-old August "Auggie" Pullman, who has a genetic facial difference. After being homeschooled, he enters school for the first time in fifth grade and has to cope with a range of reactions to his unusual appearance, as well as a lot of typical middle school drama. Some kids use hateful language, and some people suggest that Auggie is mentally deficient. These situations are upsetting, as are other hardships that Auggie's family endures, including the loss of a beloved family pet. But goodness wins out, and readers should find it inspiring and uplifting. A high school couple kisses a few times, and Auggie observes some seventh-grade kids smoking, but it's not clear whether they're smoking cigarettes or pot. The book was adapted for the 2017 film starring Julia Roberts , Owen Wilson , and Jacob Tremblay . The audiobook version, read by Nick Podehl , Kate Rudd, and Diana Steele, was named a 2013 Notable Children's Recording by the American Library Association.

Where to Read

Parent and kid reviews.

• Parents say (59)
• Kids say (273)

Based on 59 parent reviews

Read this! It’s awesome!

What's the story.

August "Auggie" Pullman is a fifth-grade boy with a craniofacial condition. His loving parents and sister have shielded him from many outside influences before WONDER begins, and he's been homeschooled up until that point. But at the start of the book, his mother has decided that it's time for Auggie to brave a group schooling experience. Auggie is upset and afraid to face the other kids' reactions to his appearance, but there's also part of him that wants to do "normal" things. The director of his new school, Mr. Tushman, introduces Auggie to a small group of students before school starts, thinking this will help ease the transition. While some of the students Auggie meets are accepting and kind, others are a bit put off by him, and still others are downright cruel. The novel follows Auggie's first year of middle school from beginning to end. It's a year in which Auggie experiences the best and the worst of human nature and a year of tremendous emotional growth for him.

Is It Any Good?

Auggie himself is a very convincing and poignant character -- definitely not just a device -- and his story is extremely moving and uplifting. Author R.J. Palacio writes Wonder in multiple voices, including Auggie's, some of his friends', and his sister's. The different points of view are mostly very well-realized and show the inner feelings of the different characters -- though a couple of aspects of Wonder don't ring fully true. Auggie's parents are almost too perfect to be believed, and the main mean kid in the novel is a bit too easily dispensed with.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about peer pressure and how it's portrayed in Wonder . Sometimes we feel pushed to reject someone -- even a friend -- because others don't like that person. How would you handle the situation that Jack Will faces?

Why do you think some people are cruel to Auggie?

If you wrote a precept -- like Mr. Browne's class does -- what would it be?

Do you think Auggie's parents did the right thing in sending him to school? Why, or why not?

In what ways does Wonder encourage compassion ? Which characters seem the most compassionate to you? Why is this an important character strength ?

Book Details

• Author : R.J. Palacio
• Genre : Coming of Age
• Topics : Brothers and Sisters , Friendship , Great Boy Role Models
• Character Strengths : Compassion
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Alfred A. Knopf
• Publication date : February 14, 2012
• Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 12
• Number of pages : 320
• Last updated : November 9, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to read next.

White Bird: A Wonder Story

We're All Wonders

Mockingbird

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key

Zen and the Art of Faking It

Back-to-school books, back-to-school movies, related topics.

• Brothers and Sisters
• Great Boy Role Models

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

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‘The Crow’ Review: Resurrected and It Feels So Bad

Hoping to skate by off moody vibes, this revamp of “The Crow” comic book series seems derived from a flattened, Hot Topic image of the hero.

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By Brandon Yu

In the long and winding road it took to finally get to “The Crow” — with some 15 years of recasts, rewrites, and director switches — the one constant that has remained is that this version would not be a remake of the 1994 film of the same name. It would, the mantra went, instead be a reimagining of the original comic book series by James O’Barr about a man, resurrected from the dead, enacting vengeance on the small-time gangsters who killed him and his fiancée.

It’s a sensible distinction to make for any movie revamp, but here is a particularly important and likely futile disclaimer to evade existing in the shadow not only of a cult classic, but also of a tragic and storied legacy — the accidental on-set death of its star, Brandon Lee — that shrouded and ultimately fueled the original film’s beloved status. “The Crow” of 2024 was never meant to be, couldn’t ever be, a version of that movie, a grittily stylized, rough-edged gothic melodrama whose pain and grief was so deeply absorbed by fans because those very things bled beyond the frame.

That, of course, is fine and all. But ultimately what this version, directed by Rupert Sanders, is spiritually derived from is neither the film nor the comic, but rather the flattened popular image that the film produced — a Hot Topic -style version of alternative consciousness.

“Do you think angsty teens would build shrines to us?” Shelly (FKA twigs) asks Eric (Bill Skarsgard) about their love story, the film’s central romance, whose edgy sensitivity is packaged with as much real feeling as a perfume ad starring Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox. You might think of Shelly’s line as a kind of wink at how Lee’s image became a beacon for brooding cynicism for an entire generation.

But the real punchline is that the film itself is the embodiment of that kind of hollow emo teen worship, throwing vague echoes of “Joker,” “John Wick” and “Constantine” into a laundry machine and hoping faded shades of black eyeliner remain.

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Chinese Game ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ Is an Instant Global Hit, Attracting Great Reviews, Praise at Home and Controversy Abroad

By Patrick Frater

Patrick Frater

Asia Bureau Chief

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When was the last time a Chinese-developed video game created a global stir as boisterous as the launch of “ Black Myth: Wukong ”?

The noise is mostly plaudits for the quality of the game’s action, design and playability, which has been amplified by Chinese state media. But that has been dampened somewhat by clumsy censorship and attempts to sweep aside allegations of sexism at the company that developed “Wukong.”

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After a heady buildup that included 10 million views of the trailer on YouTube outside China and a further 56 million on Chinese video platform Bilibili, the game claimed more than 1.04 million concurrent players on gaming platform Steam within an hour of its Tuesday official upload. By Wednesday, that figure had risen to 2.2 million.

That kind of international success was not missed by China’s gamers or social media followers. More than 1.7 billion references to “Wukong” had been accumulated on the Weibo microblogging platform.

Chinese state media was just as quick to celebrate the game’s successful debut as a triumph for Chinese culture and technological progress. “[‘Wukong’] exemplifies the growing maturity of China’s gaming sector and integrated resource capabilities of Chinese producers,” said the state-backed tabloid Global Times.

“This release marks a bold foray by Chinese game developers into a market long dominated by Western triple-A titles. With this breakthrough, the default language of a triple-A game is no longer English, but Chinese,” the official Xinhua news agency wrote in an editorial on Wednesday, translated by Reuters.

“Wukong” was hatched by Game Science, a Tencent-backed startup that had not previously produced a PC and console game, with its marketing handled by (20% owner) Hero Games.

Where most Chinese gaming is done via smartphones, and to a lesser extent personal computers, the initial release of “Wukong” is limited to the Sony PlayStation 5 and to PCs (via platforms Steam, Epic Games and Tencent’s WeGame).

Moreover, it sells as a one-time purchase of RMB268 ($37) for the standard version and RMB328 ($46) for a premium edition, rather than the typical Chinese “freemium” model, where a product is made available for free or little cost, but users then make multiple in-game micro-payments for benefits such as personalization and game powers or early access to new tiers and upgrades.

But the criticism is not of the game’s source material, design or entertainment value. Detractors have aimed their fire at Game Science and at the kind of censorship of discussion that is commonplace in China, but sits less comfortably in the west.

U.S.-based games and entertainment publication IGN last year published a report exposing instances of sexist behavior by multiple Game Science developers, misogynistic social media posts by founder and CEO Feng Ji and Yang Qi, the game’s artistic director, as well as the inclusion of sexual innuendo in the firm’s 2015 recruitment advertising materials. While the new product was being opened up for review by western media, the company’s refusal to comment on the executive’s moral values sparked the first signs of controversy — albeit mostly outside China. Game Science has still not made any comment on the allegations.

That grew along with anticipation that the game was on course to be a blockbuster. On Steam, discussion boards outside China were peppered with largely-unrelated criticism of the Chinese government and its president. Some of the comments appeared to come from inside China from users who would only have had access by using an (illegal) virtual private network.

In advance of the game’s launch, Hero Games invited overseas reviewers and selected players to preview the game, but it also required them to sign up to a set of guidelines, which some took as an request that they self-censor.

The guidelines appeared to reveal many of the current red lines in Chinese society. “The list of forbidden subjects laid out in a document under ‘Don’ts’ — politics, ‘feminist propaganda,’ COVID-19, China’s video game industry policies and other content that instigates negative discourse,” reports the New York Times.

The clampdown now appears to have eased and games approvals have increased this year, which make the arrival of a Chinese-developed AAA hit a further piece of positive news.

For some of China’s beleaguered tech and entertainment companies, the “’Wukong’ effect’s” impact on their valuation may allow them to see past the game’s overseas controversies. Hero Games owner Zhejiang Publishing saw its shares climb by their daily limit on Tuesday to reach a three-year high. CITIC Press, which is expected to publish a book of “Wukong” illustrations, was up by 20%. Tencent, the industry leader which earlier this month also reported some rebound in its Chinese games segment , held firm but its stock price was little changed.

The Global Times reports that private sector film company Huayi Brothers , which has endured a torrid period weighed down by debts and poor performance, may be the biggest winner on paper. Huayi recently disclosed that it holds 5% of Hero Games’ equity and, in turn, has seen its own share price climb by more than 70% since Aug. 14.

With the sexism and censorship controversies unlikely to have much impact inside China, Game Science and other Chinese developers are expected to continue trying their hand at developing other AAA games.

As investment bank Goldman Sachs wrote in a recent note, “We see signs that the government is recognizing the industry’s potential value for exports and culture, [not least of which was] the interview of Game Science’s founder by state media Xinhua agency ahead of its game launch.”

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Young Hawke by David Day review – a gritty, disturbing addition to former prime minister’s story

The childhood roots of Bob Hawke’s adult bad behaviour are carefully examined in this biography of the often lionised figure

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F or many first-time voters of my generation, the 1983 Australian federal election remains the first seminal moment of political consciousness: the contest when the workers’ Messiah, Bob Hawke , inevitably won the prime ministership he seemed destined for.

Hawke, elected Labor leader the very day Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser called that election, ascended with an aura of fate and celebrity, the likes of which Australian politics had not seen. The other thing about Hawke – the son of a couple who can only be described as religious fanatics, a Rhodes scholar, and a legally trained and brilliant advocate who ushered the Australian Council of Trade Unions into immensely powerful modernity – was the public sense that, for all his personal failings, he was an open book.

Blanche d’Alpuget’s Robert J Hawke (the first “warts and all” take on Hawke) was a remarkable exposé of a man gunning to be PM. So much so that today, it almost certainly would have derailed his ambition; conversely, at the time, it only seemed to help as an exercise in open-book inoculation.

His alcoholism, the boorishness, his women – so very many – became intrinsic to Hawke’s public story as he won fame as the workers’ hero, finally entered federal parliament and achieved what he and his parents had long regarded his destiny. There was a type of secular fervour attached to Hawke’s ascendancy such that his sworn sobriety and supposed – or at least publicly apparent – newfound marital fidelity was interpreted as a redemptive personal sacrifice so that the nation might finally be gifted his prime ministership.

And when it was all over, once Paul Keating had risen just as inevitably to oust Hawke (Labor’s longest-serving prime minister) in 1991, we learned even more about Hawke courtesy of his own memoir, that of his first wife, Hazel, and an updated version of the 1982 book by d’Alpuget (who became his second wife).

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But the Labor historian David Day’s Young Hawke adds a gritty and sometimes disturbing dimension to the Hawke story. As I read Day’s book – which traces Hawke from his parental “origins” to 1979, his last year as ACTU president (another volume will examine Hawke the parliamentarian and prime minister) – I was reminded of the questions we sometimes ask ourselves about public figures, like: can we love the art but dislike the artist? In the case of Hawke, in light of Day’s book, the question for me is: can we separate the man’s amazing gains and advocacy for Australian workers, his impressive talent for consensus and his totemic achievements as prime minister, from the pathological self-regarding man?

Misty-eyed fans may not find this a pretty read. But the roots of Hawke’s purported and frequently asserted narcissism are carefully examined. There was the early death of his elder brother, Neil, in whom their parents, preacher Clem and devoutly religious Ellie (both fiercely abstemious warriors against licentiousness), had invested all hopes and dreams and against whom the young Hawke never quite measured up. That Ellie wished and prayed “Bobbie” would be born a girl and openly lamented he wasn’t exacerbated, Day contends, Hawke’s lifelong addiction to affection and adulation.

While Hawke often spoke about his intense love for his parents, Bobbie emerges as a neglected child. He was left in the care of a lodger for long periods while his parents saved souls. Clem, particularly, emerges as erratic, unstable and deeply melancholic. In Young Hawke, however, the confusing flipside to this neglect was the sense of destiny the parents imbued in the son and the unerring self-belief that propelled him to the prime ministership. Ellie, Day writes, “never tired of telling whomever would listen that Bob was destined one day to be prime minister. The young man had even begun to predict it himself.”

Australia has long known, and perhaps accepted, Hawke as a womaniser. But there is much in this book about Hawke’s treatment of women that is deeply disturbing, even repellent. For example, when the young industrial advocate arrived at the ACTU with a reputation as a hard-drinking philanderer, a senior “ordered modesty boards for the front of the desks of the three female staff members, so the lascivious newcomer couldn’t eye off their legs”, while instructing “that none of the young women were to be alone with Hawke when he moved to an upstairs office or worked there on the weekend”.

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While at the Australian National University (he studied there for a time from 1956, soon after marrying Hazel), some of his behaviour is portrayed as intensely sleazy and borderline predatory. Day recounts an anecdote about how Hawke, during “a drunken spree” with friends at a residential building, “was caught trying to climb up to a small window above the door of a terrified female student, ‘who was in bed on the other side of the door’”.

Those around Hawke, in Day’s book at least, seemed to ultimately forgive him as much as he forgave himself. During his time as Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, he urged his then fiance, Hazel, to join him from Australia as he’d been “thrust into an environment which is full of opportunities for the satisfaction of my varied tastes to which if I succumbed in their entireties, would only succeed in taking me away from you”. She eventually joined him. But she could never save him from himself.

Today Hawke’s past – his character – would probably have derailed his ambition to be prime minister. In Day’s portrait of the young Hawke, the subject emerges as self-aware about his own poor behaviour and how it hurt others. But “he was not about to change”, Day writes: “After all, his narcissism and his upbringing had convinced him that he was no mere mortal and subject to normal strictures.”

That so many others apparently believed the same allowed him to become one of the greatest prime ministers Australia has ever seen.

Young Hawke: The Making of a Larrikin by David Day is published by Harper Collins ($49.99)

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Wonder leans on its great cast to tell an engaging, warmhearted family story

Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts, and Owen Wilson star in a movie based on the best-selling novel.

by Alissa Wilkinson

The old maxim exhorting us to “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle” is the thesis of Wonder — it’s even quoted at the end of the film — and Wonder handles it well, following a boy named August Pullman, his family, and his friends through a year of change in their lives.

August, nicknamed Auggie, was born with a chromosome condition that causes facial deformities, and after 27 surgeries he still looks noticeably different from other kids his age. His perspective on his life is certainly the core of the movie, and that’s part of what made the novel it’s based on a best-seller.

But Wonder doesn’t focus exclusively on Auggie, and that’s its biggest strength. The film’s bigger story is that even though Auggie’s family — his parents, his sister, even his dog — has bent their lives around his, they, too, are dealing with their own struggles. So are Auggie’s friends, and even his enemies.

While the movie’s premise feels prone to the maudlin, it’s ultimately quite poignant; Wonder is a family-oriented tale in which people make mistakes in the way they treat one another, but learn and grow in a way that doesn’t feel condescending to the film’s younger audience. Importantly, Wonder is also a movie about a young boy with a condition that makes him stand out from his peers — but it doesn’t valorize or patronize him by painting him as a saint. It respects Auggie too much for that.

Wonder is a sensitive exploration of the many ways people struggle in ordinary life

The movie picks up as Auggie ( Jacob Tremblay ) is getting ready to attend school for the first time, a new fifth-grader who’s been homeschooled thus far. His mother Isabel ( Julia Roberts ), his father Nate ( Owen Wilson ), and his sister Via ( Izabela Vidovic ) are all supportive and encouraging, but he’s not convinced it’s a step he is ready to take, and when they walk him to school through the park on his first day, he’s reticent to take off his beloved astronaut helmet.

Thanks to the school’s kindly headmaster, Mr. Tushman ( Mandy Patinkin ), Auggie has already met three of his classmates: chatty Charlotte ( Elle McKinnon ); quiet Jack Will ( Noah Jupe ); and two-faced Julian ( Bryce Gheisar ), who performs niceness around adults but harbors a serious mean streak. He soon meets another classmate, the immediately kind-to-him Summer ( Millie Davis ), and likes his energetic teacher Mr. Browne ( Daveed Diggs ), but school is still difficult for Auggie. He knows the other kids are looking at him, even if nobody is being mean. Every day makes him question whether he’ll ever be able to feel like he truly fits in.

His sister Via, meanwhile, is in high school and discovering that her lifelong best friend Miranda ( Danielle Rose Russell ) has changed over the summer. She joins theater and makes a new friend, Justin ( Nadji Jeter ), but simultaneously grapples with feeling as if she’s in second place regarding her parents’ affections — something she’s grown used to, given Auggie’s great need for care and attention.

Via’s story is told from her perspective, which adds layers to our understanding of her, and Wonder delves into the perspectives of other characters, too: Jack Will, Miranda, Isabel, and even Julian. It turns out that learning about other people’s fears, wants, hurts, and joys can make everything those people do — the bad stuff and the good stuff — make more sense. And as the school year goes on, they all grow in their maturity and relationships with one another, and in their ability to experience empathy.

The film leans on strong characters and a strong cast to tell a warm, meaningful story

Wonder succeeds largely on the strength of its cast, which includes a bevy of stellar performers led by Tremblay’s sensitive portrayal of Auggie as a complicated kid who worries about his classmates but sometimes yells at his parents and sister, too.

But it’s also a tricky story to tell without tipping over into manipulation. Director Stephen Chbosky ( The Perks of Being a Wallflower ) adapted R.J. Palacio’s source novel into a screenplay with Steve Conrad and Jack Thorne , and it neatly avoids becoming a didactic after-school special about why it’s important for people to be kind by letting the story work as a character piece, full of humor and warmth and conflict and fun. Sometimes the adults deliver speeches about growing up and dealing with life, but those speeches always seem to flow organically from their characters.

Of course, Wonder is still a moderately sentimental film. And as a movie called Wonder that’s aimed at families, that characteristic is practically in its DNA. But it earns the sentiment. Auggie struggles, and so do his parents, and his sister, and his friends. And so do we all. A bit of kindness is never out of place. And these days, it seems more important than ever.

Wonder opens in theaters on November 17.

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The Wonder review: Florence Pugh is at home in this beguiling period drama – with a controversial beginning

Past the odd – and already critically divisive – opening, this period drama is a sincere exploration of faith and truth, article bookmarked.

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Dir: Sebastián Lelio. Starring: Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Elaine Cassidy, Caolán Byrne, Niamh Algar, Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds. 15, 108 minutes.

Watching The Wonder on Netflix , you’ll think you’ve clicked on the wrong film. The beguiling period drama starring Florence Pugh opens not in Ireland’s boglands as promised by the trailer, but in the harsh light of a film studio. A disembodied voice ( Niamh Algar ’s) will reassure you that this is indeed The Wonder . The voice continues: “The people you are about to meet, the characters, believe in their stories with complete devotion. We are nothing without stories. So we invite you to believe in this one.”

It’s an odd, and already critically divisive, beginning. The film sees director Sebastián Lelio and screenwriter Alice Birch (known for her work on Succession and Normal People ) take on Emma Donoghue’s 2016 novel of the same name. It should be said that nothing about Donoghue’s book particularly invites this narrative framework (the film ends back at the same sterile place) but Leilo and Birch have latched on to it, nonetheless. The reasons behind their peculiar choice reveal themselves slowly but persuasively.

The camera, eventually, closes in on a dark and dingy passenger ship, in which sits Pugh’s Lib Wright. The year is 1862. Lib is an English nurse called across the sea to Ireland, to verify a miracle. An 11-year-old girl, Anna O’Donnell (Kíla Lord Cassidy), has lived without food for four months. Lib is there only to report what she sees and hears, not to offer her diagnosis. The debate of faith versus science is to be left to the men of the village (played in part by Toby Jones , Brian F O’Byrne, and Ciarán Hinds). Has Anna been nurtured by magnetism? Photosynthesis? Molecules of scent? Or, as she claims, “manna from heaven”?

The truth of Anna’s self-sustaining starvation means little to the story. Neither is it all that hard to guess. The Wonder , instead, relies on the enigmatic discomfort of being drawn into another person’s darkest secret. As Lib becomes closer to the girl, her suspicions grow. And this is a land so scarred by famine that even the charming journalist (Tom Burke) who turns up to write about Anna, hides a mournful tether to the place. Cinematographer Ari Wegner frames Pugh like she’s a mouse crawling in the rafters, small and easily consumed by the shadows. Meanwhile, Matthew Herbert’s score, jarringly but effectively modern in tone, rumbles away beneath like a digestive system of levers and gears.

The film may take a stand against religious hypocrisy – and particularly the carelessness with which lives are supplanted by agendas – but it does so without vilifying those who see faith as a tool for survival. A veteran of the Crimean War, Lib considers it a great privilege to spend time with those on their deathbeds. “They talk,” she says. “They tell their stories.”

Pugh is very much at home in this kind of role, but it’s no less arresting in its familiarity. There’s a certain steadfastness there, a sense of internal resolution, that not only allowed her to walk away from the hubbub around Don’t Worry Darling entirely untouched, but let her skip through the Marvel Cinematic Universe as its newest Black Widow without a care in the world. Lib, despite assiduously devoting herself to the factual world of medicine, has her own nightly ritual to assuage the grief of a lost child. Every evening, she pricks her finger, like manmade stigmata, and sinks into an opium-induced blackout. The Wonder ’s strange opening then begins to make sense; it is a reminder that the only truths to exist are the ones which we construct for ourselves.

‘The Wonder’ is streaming on Netflix now

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The atmosphere's absorbing and the story is fascinating, but The Wonder of this period drama really lies in Florence Pugh's remarkable performance.

Although the movie is slow and contains some questionable storytelling choices, Florence Pugh makes it hard to look away from The Wonder .

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“We are nothing without stories, and so we invite you to believe in this one.” Sebastian Lelio’s fascinating “The Wonder” opens with a prologue that includes this line, one that’s crucial to unpacking the film that follows. Working with co-writers Alice Birch & Emma Donoghue to adapt Donoghue’s novel, Lelio doesn’t just want you to passively watch the story of what’s to come. It’s not an invitation to hear or see this story, but to believe in this one. Lelio is less concerned about the practical truths and lies of “The Wonder” than he is about what they mean, what they say about humanity, and how they interrogate what we believe.

Pugh plays Lib Wright, an English nurse in the year 1862, a year when the mass famine of the 1840s has left scars across the Irish landscape to which she travels. She has been summoned there by a committee looking for answers about a local girl who appears to be a miracle—one that includes arguably underwritten characters played by Toby Jones , Ciaran Hinds , and Brian F. O’Byrne. Nine-year-old Anna O’Donnell (the excellent Kila Lord Cassidy) has not eaten in four months. She claims to subsist only on manna from heaven, and her survival has led to worshippers who want to confer with this potential saint. Her mother Rosaleen (Cassidy’s actual mother Elaine) insists that there is no trickery here, but Lib’s job will be to watch Anna to see if food is somehow being snuck into her bedroom. A journalist named William ( Tom Burke ) has also traveled there to fuel Lib’s skepticism, and it’s no coincidence that both the writer and the nurse have brought the grief of loss in their baggage.

Lib is constantly being told, “You are only here to watch.” She is the observer, just like us. There are fascinating bookends to this story that reaches too far in terms of form but it’s interesting to see a piece that’s about faith and skepticism in equal measure be so directly confrontational with its audience. Naturally, Lib’s instinct begins where most viewers would—doubtful that Anna isn’t eating and then increasingly concerned about her declining physical state. Pugh takes us on a journey with her from skepticism to concern and “The Wonder” becomes a study of empathy and action. How long can we be expected to just “watch” when the life of a child is in danger? How long can we stay inactive when faith is destructive enough to tear communities and families apart?

A drama this ambitious demands a fearless performer like Pugh, who knows exactly the tightrope to walk when it comes to the story’s delicate balance between realism and melodrama. Pugh can’t lean too far into the emotional or risk turning “The Wonder” into a more traditional melodrama, the kind of thing that’s easier to place in a box and walk away from. Lelio doesn’t want that. He wants viewers to feel as unsettled as Lib, who becomes increasingly unmoored as she realizes she has either been asked to bear witness to a miracle or the death of a child. Lib’s uncertainty is enhanced by an excellent score by Lelio’s regular composer Matthew Herbert that avoids the lilt common to period pieces in favor of something more uncomfortable. And the phenomenal Ari Wegner (“ The Power of the Dog ”) shoots the film with a gloomy, gray palette that almost makes it look like a horror flick.

There are times when Lelio is a bit unsure of his ambition, falling back on a more traditional pace and rhythm, but he always gets back to the more interesting version of “The Wonder” that ultimately comes together. Burke’s journalist character is also woefully underwritten, a part that's like a plot device here instead of a rich counterpart to Lib. He’s not bad but he's frustratingly stuck in terms of character. Burke is always an intriguing performer, but this film falters a bit when he’s around as if he’s invading the space between Anna and Lib instead of enhancing it.

Even if its questions of faith don’t intrigue Netflix subscribers, the performances will. Lelio has proven himself to be a consistently phenomenal director of actresses, drawing great work from Daniela Vega (“ A Fantastic Woman ”), Julianne Moore (“ Gloria Bell ”), and Rachel McAdams (“ Disobedience ”). We can now add Pugh (and Cassidy really) to that list as another woman who is consistently asked by the men of this film to step aside and merely observe. She starts merely watching, but she ends the movie with a different kind of resolve, one that comes from her unshakeable belief.

In limited theatrical release today and on Netflix on November 16 th .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

The Wonder (2022)

Rated R for some sexuality.

108 minutes

Florence Pugh as Lib Wright

Kíla Lord Cassidy as Anna O'Donnell

Tom Burke as William Byrne

Niamh Algar as Kitty

Elaine Cassidy as Rosaleen O'Donnell

Toby Jones as Dr. McBrearty

Ciarán Hinds

Dermot Crowley

• Sebastián Lelio

Writer (based on the novel by)

• Emma Donoghue
• Alice Birch

Cinematographer

• Kristina Hetherington
• Matthew Herbert

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Home » Movies » Movie Reviews

The Wonder review – a gothic tale of religious zealotry and obsession

Pugh gives a wonderful performance in The Wonder , a drama that engages its audience by finding originality in cold, hard truths.

We review the Netflix film The Wonder, directed by Sebastián Lelio, which does not contain spoilers.

The Wonder , a film adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s novel of the same name, is a story of deeply rooted religious zealotry and obsession. Taking place in the mid-1800s around The Irish Midlands , director Sebastián Lelio ‘s ( Gloria Bell ) somewhat faithful transfer to the silver screen pairs well with modern themes such as isolation, loneliness, and untold secrets we keep for ourselves and from others. This is a gothic tale of religious zealotry and obsession

The story follows an English nurse, Lib Wright ( Florence Pugh ) , who is summoned to a tiny village to observe what some claim is a medical anomaly or maybe even a miracle. An 11-year-old girl, Anna (played by Kila Lord Cassidy , astounding here), has survived without food for more than four months. This is a deeply religious community. Under that leadership, which includes a priest ( Belfast ‘s Ciaran Hinds ) and a local physician ( The English ‘s Toby Jones ), Lib wants to keep watch of Anna for two weeks. Why? To verify the miracle this child represents.

Of course, Lib doesn’t believe a word of it. Along the way, Lib meets an equally skeptical reporter from London, William Byrne ( Tom Burke ). The confident man, bordering on arrogance, was originally from this small community, a hamlet that’s not exactly out of the mind of Shirley Jackson. However, some of the stories sound like they may be. For example, Byrne’s family killed themselves by starvation. They are nailing themselves into their home so they cannot leave. Lib, who has seen so much tragedy and bloodshed in her own life by being a nurse in wartime England, feels attracted to him, but even more so when they share a deeply felt trauma.

The script, written by Donoghue, Lelio , and Conversation with Friends scribe Alice Birch , feels light, but beneath the surface is wonderfully plotted. Dialogue between family members, recounting, and even prayers take on more significant meanings that unwrap a sinister mystery. It even reflects on historical themes of views of women. This also reflects the attitudes the old white men in the village even have of Lib, a nurse they brought over from England for her expertise.

The Wonder is supposed to incite the audience’s anxiety, frustration, and irritability that you feel through the Lib character. One where children commit self-harm, while the family and leadership are negligible. There are also themes of how people react to trauma. Case in point, Lib sucks on a bloody cut on her finger at several points. This creates a euphoric sensation for her. When traumatic experiences trigger her, this is a way for her to self-soothe her brain from temporary signals of fear and anxiety.

And that is essentially what The Wonder is about — a psychological drama that engages its audience by finding originality in cold, hard truths. An honesty that engages people with shared pain, trauma, and experiences and how the characters manage them. Religion, in a sense, is issued in the same way, as a guidebook or an explanation, and when you cannot produce answers, you can always fall back on it being “God’s will,” so to speak. Pugh, who gives a wonderful, understated performance, along with Lord, who has that knockout scene with the film’s star, gets to the delicate center of that theme.

What did you think of the Netflix film The Wonder? Comment below.

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Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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by R.J. Palacio

• Wonder Summary

August or "Auggie" Pullman, a ten-year-old boy living in New York City, was born with a facial deformity that has made it difficult for him to make friends. He lives with his parents, his older sister Via, and his dog Daisy. He has been homeschooled up until the fifth grade, but his parents have decided that it is time for him to go to a real school. They enroll him in Beecher Prep, a neighborhood private school, and take him to meet the principal, Mr. Tushman . While August is there, some of the kids who will be in August's grade take him on a tour of the school; one of them, Jack Will , is nice, but another, Julian, is noticeably rude.

Auggie settles into the first few months of school and his classmates slowly get used to the way his face looks. He becomes friends with Jack, and with a girl named Summer who sits with him at lunch on the first day. Apparently, a rumor that touching Auggie will give you the "plague" arises, so his classmates make a point of avoiding touching him, so that Auggie begins to feel alienated. Things get a lot worse on Halloween, typically Auggie's favorite day of the year, when Auggie overhears Jack say to Julian and some other boys that he would kill himself if he looked like Auggie. Jack is completely unaware that Auggie himself is sitting nearby, disguised in a Bleeding Scream costume.

The story switches perspective to Via, Auggie's older sister, who begins high school at the same time that Auggie starts middle school. Via has had to come to terms with the fact that her family's universe revolves around Auggie and his needs; hers often get pushed to the side. The only person who put her first was her grandmother, Grans , who is dead by the time the narrative begins.

Via is also dealing with school issues, since her former best friends, Miranda and Ella , stopped talking to her over the summer. Via feels neglected after the first day of school, since her mother appears more concerned with Auggie's day than with hers. A rift continues to grow between Via and her former friends, and Via settles into new group. On Halloween, Via is confused when Auggie comes home early, claiming to be sick and refusing to go trick or treating. He reveals to her what happened with Jack, and she convinces him that some kids will always be mean. Auggie, according to her, must move past such dilemmas and keep going to school. Auggie surprises Via by telling her that Miranda called to talk to him, and asked about her.

Next comes Summer's point of view. Summer spends time with Auggie because she legitimately wants to be his friend, not because Mr. Tushman asked her to. Since Auggie is mad at Jack, Summer becomes his best friend, and their two families hit it off as well. Summer struggles over whether to keep hanging out with Auggie or to hang out with the popular crowd instead, but ultimately chooses Auggie. When Jack eventually asks Summer why Auggie is mad at him, she gives him one clue: "Bleeding Scream."

The next section is told from Jack's perspective, and he backtracks to when Mr. Tushman first asked him to try to be a friend to the new student. He remembers seeing Auggie when they were both very little: at this earlier time, Jack was disconcerted by Auggie's face. Jack also has some struggles at home, since his family is not wealthy -- a sharp contrast to some other families with children in private schools.

When Jack puts two and two together and figures out what Auggie overheard, he feels terrible. He really does want to be Auggie's friend, but he got caught up in an attempt to be accepted by kids like Julian. When Julian tells him one day that being friends with Auggie is not worth it, Jack gets so angry that he punches Julian in the face. This conflict sets off a series of apology letters involving Jack, Mr. Tushman, and Julian, and Jack and Auggie eventually make up and become friends again. When Jack and Auggie return to school after winter break, though, Jack realizes that Julian has turned most of the boys in their grade against them and that a "war" has begun.

The perspective then switches to Via's new boyfriend, Justin , who has just met Auggie. Justin is good for Via, because he makes her feel important and valued. Since his own parents are divorced, Justin also enjoys spending time with the unified Pullman family. Auditions for the school play at his and Via's high school arrive, and he gets cast as the male lead in Our Town , while Via's old friend Miranda gets cast as the female lead with Via as the understudy.

Auggie's perspective comes back for the first time since the beginning of the novel: the situation has gotten better at school as students grow tired of the "war" between Julian and Jack. The Pullman family gets in a fight one day when Auggie realizes that Via has been hiding her involvement in the school play from him. She does not want him to come, because then she would be known once again as the girl with the deformed brother. During the fight, though, the Pullmans' dog Daisy is discovered to be extremely sick. She must be put to sleep, a choice which devastates the family. This loss also makes Via forget about the fight, and the whole family goes to the school play to see Justin. They expect to see Miranda in the lead female role, but then get a shock: Miranda apparently fell sick right before the show, so instead Via performs the lead role, and she does an amazing job.

Miranda gets a chance to tell her story now: she has avoided Via since school started because, during the summer, she told a lot of lies at camp and pretended she had a deformed little brother in order to become popular. She secretly misses Via, though. On the opening night of the play, Miranda has no one there to see her, so after she sees the Pullman family in the audience she fakes an illness so that Via can go onstage instead. This ploy gives Via and Miranda an opportunity to patch up their relationship.

The final section of the novel switches back to Auggie. The fifth grade goes on a retreat at a nature reserve for three days: this is Auggie's first time sleeping away from home. Things go great until the second night, when the students are watching an outdoor movie. Jack and Auggie go into the woods so that Jack can pee; while there, they encounter a bunch of older kids from another school, who make fun of Auggie and try to hurt him. Luckily, three of the boys from Beecher Prep who are usually mean to Auggie -- Henry , Miles , and Amos -- come to Auggie's rescue, although one of the older kids steals Auggie's hearing aids.

This incident makes Auggie extremely popular, however. By the final stages of the novel, almost everyone has at last warmed up to him and wants to be his friend. Things start looking up: the Pullmans get a new puppy, and Auggie learns from Mr. Tushman that Julian will not come back to Beecher Prep the following year. Graduation arrives; Auggie wins a special award for courage and kindness. He realizes how far he has come since the beginning of school, and he now has a solid group of friends and feels comfortable with who he is. The novel ends with his mother whispering in his ear, calling him a "wonder."

Wonder Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Wonder is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What writing assignment did Mr. Browne give the class?

Mr. Browne says that he will give the class a new precept every month. For the month of September, he tells them to consider: “If you have the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.”

What are the facts that are more significative for you?

This question calls for your opinion... your reflection on the book. I particularly enjoyed Summer's sections, as they give us a glimpse into what it's like not to be in Auggie's situation, but to learn what it's like for the people closest to...

Why does Justin greet the different members of the family in four different ways? from wonder

This is one of the shorter sections, but Justin's segments are extremely important because they give us our first substantial look at Auggie's family from the outside. Summer and Jack only briefly interacted with the rest of Auggie's family, but...

Study Guide for Wonder

Wonder study guide contains a biography of R.J. Palacio, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Wonder
• Wonder Video
• Character List

Lesson Plan for Wonder

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Wonder
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Wonder Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Wonder

• Introduction

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– Entertainment Analysis and Reviews

Wonder Book Review: A Heartwarming Tale of Kindness and Empathy

“Wonder” is a novel by R.J. Palacio that tells the story of a young boy named August Pullman, who was born with a facial deformity that has made him the subject of much attention and ridicule. The book explores themes of acceptance, empathy, and kindness in a way that is both heartwarming and thought-provoking. “Wonder” has become a beloved modern classic and has inspired a generation of readers to embrace differences and treat others with compassion. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into the plot, writing style, characters, themes, and overall impact of “Wonder” to understand why it has captured the hearts and minds of so many.

The book wonder Summary of the Plot:

Review of the writing style:, wonder book analysis of the characters:, discussion of themes:, overall evaluation of book wonder:.

“Wonder” is the story of August “Auggie” Pullman, a ten-year-old boy who was born with a facial deformity that has caused him to be homeschooled his entire life. When Auggie’s parents enroll him in a mainstream school, he must navigate the challenges of fitting in with his classmates and dealing with bullying and exclusion. Along the way, Auggie makes new friends, learns to cope with his condition, and teaches others about the power of acceptance and kindness. The book is divided into several sections, each narrated by a different character, providing a unique perspective on Auggie’s experiences.

Some of the key events in the book include:

• Auggie’s first day of school, where he meets classmates who are both welcoming and hostile
• Auggie’s friendship with Summer, who stands up for him and shows him kindness
• Auggie’s struggles with bullying, including incidents where he is physically threatened
• The fallout of Auggie’s classmates learning about his facial deformity
• The school’s winter concert, where Auggie’s classmates perform a song in his honor
• Auggie’s growth and development throughout the school year as he learns to navigate his relationships and embrace his differences

Palacio’s writing is also effective in creating a vivid and empathetic portrayal of Auggie and his experiences. The descriptions of Auggie’s facial deformity are detailed enough to convey the severity of his condition, but not so graphic as to be overwhelming or unsettling for younger readers. Additionally, the use of humor and lighthearted moments throughout the book provides a balance to the more serious themes and adds to the overall appeal of the story.

One of the strengths of “Wonder” is its memorable and relatable characters, who bring depth and nuance to the story. Some of the key characters in the book include:

• August “Auggie” Pullman: The protagonist and central character of the book, Auggie is a young boy with a facial deformity that has made him the target of bullying and ridicule. Throughout the book, Auggie displays resilience, kindness, and a strong sense of self, as he learns to navigate the challenges of fitting in with his peers.
• Via Pullman: Auggie’s older sister, Via is a compassionate and loyal character who supports her brother but also struggles with her own feelings of neglect and isolation. Via’s chapters in the book provide a perspective on the impact of Auggie’s condition on his family and the challenges they face as a result.
• Jack Will: Auggie’s classmate and friend, Jack initially struggles to accept Auggie due to his appearance but ultimately learns the importance of empathy and kindness. Jack’s journey throughout the book is a testament to the power of growth and self-reflection.
• Julian Albans: Auggie’s main antagonist, Julian is a bully who actively targets Auggie and spreads rumors about him. Julian’s actions and motivations are complex, reflecting the ways in which insecurity and fear can manifest as cruelty and exclusion.

At its core, “Wonder” is a story about empathy, kindness, and the power of acceptance. Some of the key themes and messages in the book include:

• Acceptance: “Wonder” explores the importance of accepting others, regardless of their appearance or differences. The book emphasizes the value of empathy and the ways in which we can all work to make the world a kinder and more inclusive place.
• Bullying: Through Auggie’s experiences with bullying and exclusion, “Wonder” sheds light on the harmful effects of cruelty and the lasting impact it can have on individuals and communities. The book advocates for speaking up against bullying and standing up for those who are vulnerable.
• Family and Relationships: “Wonder” also delves into the complex dynamics of family and relationships, particularly in the context of disability and chronic illness. The book portrays the ways in which love, support, and understanding can help individuals and families navigate difficult circumstances and emerge stronger on the other side.

“Wonder” is a heartwarming and thought-provoking book that offers a powerful message of empathy and kindness. While the book is primarily aimed at younger readers, it has resonated with audiences of all ages, and its themes and messages are relevant and valuable for everyone.

Some of the book’s strengths include:

• Engaging and memorable characters: Palacio’s characters are well-drawn and memorable, each with their own distinct voice and perspective. Readers will find themselves invested in the characters’ journeys and rooting for their growth and development.
• Nuanced exploration of themes: “Wonder” tackles complex and important themes with nuance and depth, offering a thought-provoking exploration of issues such as acceptance, bullying, and family relationships.
• Inspiring and uplifting message: Ultimately, “Wonder” is a book about the power of kindness and empathy to overcome adversity and make the world a better place. Its inspiring and uplifting message is both timely and timeless.

“Wonder” is a beautifully written and deeply affecting book that offers a powerful message of empathy and acceptance. By exploring the experiences of Auggie and those around him, the book encourages readers to see beyond appearances and embrace our differences. Its themes and messages are both timely and timeless, and its impact on readers of all ages is undeniable.

Through its engaging characters, nuanced exploration of themes, and inspiring message, “Wonder” has earned its place as a modern classic. While there are some weaknesses to the book, its strengths far outweigh any criticisms. “Wonder” is a book that everyone should read, regardless of age or background, and its message of kindness and compassion is one that we can all strive to embody in our daily lives.

In the end, “Wonder” reminds us of the importance of empathy and the power of small acts of kindness. It is a book that encourages us to see the good in others and to work towards a more inclusive and accepting world. Whether you are a young reader or an adult, “Wonder” is a book that will touch your heart and inspire you to be a better person.

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