Wonder

Wonder

RJ Palacio

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a severe facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school.
Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, Auggie wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid- but his new classmates can’t get past his extraordinary face. Wonder begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include the perspectives of his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend and others. These voices converge to portray a community as it struggles with differences, and challenges readers, both young and old, to wonder about the true nature of empathy, compassion, acceptance, friendship, and- ultimately- kindness. Auggie is a hero for the ages, one who proves that you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out.
Excerpt taken from Wonder The Book website.

Language

**Religious cursing:

G**-6

Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking

A teenage girl smokes at summer camp.

A group of middle school boys were secretly smoking at an overnight school camp.

Intimacy, Sex, Immodesty

A teenage girl turns her shirts into halter tops and wears them frequently.

A teenage boyfriend kisses his girlfriend on the forehead.

Violence, Weapons, Crime, Blood

One student punches another student in the mouth.

Some boys are making fun of another boy and grab his hoodie making him fall backwards.  Another boy comes to his defense and knocks another boy down.  One boy has a bloody lip from the encounter.

Potentially Intense Themes

The main character has a misshapen face due to a genetic abnormality.  He gets made fun of a lot.  Some are small moments of people not being able to look at him, or even being afraid to touch him.  A kid rudely asks him if his face was burned.  He also asks him if he is like Darth Sidious who had his face burned in Star Wars. Another kid overreacts when he accidentally touches the boy’s hand, then he has to wash it.  Other kids were talking about how they’d wear a hood every day or kill themselves if they looked like him.

One of the mothers of a student photoshopped the boy’s face out of the school class picture and gave out copies to other moms.

A family dog has a huge mass in her belly and gets really sick and ends up needing to be put asleep.