Wonder (Palacio novel)
Wonder is a children's novel written by R.J. Palacio. The book came out on February 14, 2012. The book was published from Knopf books for Young Readers. Wonder was a #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list[1] and was also on the Texas Bluebonnet Award master list.[2] The book was the winner of the 2014 Maine Student Book Award, Vermont's Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, and the 2015 Mark Twain Award.[3]
Plot summary
A boy named August (Auggie) Pullman has a rare craniofacial deformity that could be Treacher-Collins syndrome. Due to his surgical needs and emotional problems, he was home-schooled through fourth–grade by his mother, who was a children's book illustrator. He finally accepts going to school because his Mom argued about it with his Dad. After this decision, August visits Beecher Prep, his new school, before school starts, and meets the middle school director, Mr. Lawrence Tushman, along with three other people: Jack Will, Julian Albans, and Charlotte Cody, all of whom take him on a tour through the school. August quickly realizes that Julian is uncaring and ignores him. After that, August quickly becomes friends with Jack. He then makes a new friend during lunch break named Summer Dawson. August sits with her during lunch and they name their lunch table the "Summer Only" lunch table. They become friends, and after a while, the school hosts a Halloween party in August's homeroom. He comes in a 'Bleeding Scream' costume, even though he had told everyone in his school that he was going as Boba Fett. He walks into his classroom, and hears Jack talking to Julian. After hearing Jack say that he would 'kill himself' if he had August's face. August runs out of the classroom and cries in the bathroom stall. He decides to quit school, but his older sister, Olivia (Via), convinces him not to, though he delays school by pretending to have a stomach ache. August tells Summer and there is an Egyptian science project coming up. Jack has noticed that August has become distant and quiet. Summer tells him 'Bleeding Scream', as a hint on why August is mad. Jack doesn't understand. But eventually they become friends again. Eventually, Jack and August are chosen by the science teacher to work together on the science fair. While in this class, Jack realizes that it was August in the Bleeding Scream costume, instead of the Boba Fett costume that he thought August was wearing. However, Julian tries to get the science teacher to switch partners so he can be partners with Jack so that he can get him to go against August, but Jack declines. When Julian catches up to Jack at the hallway stairs, he calls August a freak, causing Jack to punch Julian in the face, knocking out a tooth and suspended for his actions for two days. Jack does not tell Mr. Tushman because he thinks that Julian will also tell him that Jack had been mean to August. Julian's mother accepts Jack's apology and that Julian's dental bills will be paid by Jack's family in an e-mail to Mr. Tushman. Then, Julian's mother says that August should not be in the school at all, saying that Beecher Prep is not an inclusion school.(Only because she, like Julian, doesn't like August and that having him in school will give Julian nightmares). Jack then apologizes to August, which August accepts. Later in the year, Daisy (August's dog) starts to feel sick. She dies later at the vet's office. Eventually, they get a new dog named Bear. August has to get hearing aids and then his school and many more go to a nature reserve park. They have to go to the bathroom but there is a long line so they go to the woods. There they meet a group of seventh graders that insult August. Amos, Miles and Henry come to the rescue and they are able to flee from the seventh graders. However, the hearing aids of August were stolen from him by one of the seventh graders. At the end of the year, Mr. Tushman had a talk with August about the school year and the hearing aid incident. Mr. Tushman then says that Julian will not be coming back to Beecher Prep in the fall (because Julian was suspended for two weeks for bullying August and Jack, and his parents switch him from Beecher Prep to a private school). At the year-end ceremony, Mr. Tushman begins to talk about how someone in this room accomplished something great. The principal then reveals that he is really talking about August Pullman, and August walks up to the stage to receive his award. After that, all of the students want to take a photo with him. Afterwards, Summer, Jack and their parents walk together to August's house for a party and his mom then ends the book by saying, "You are a wonder."
Main characters
August "Auggie" Pullman:The main protagonist. His face is deformed due to "mandibulofacial dysostosis" or "Treacher-Collins syndrome" , along with other facial malformations. He faces many difficulties when he enrolls in his first year of private school. In the end, he learns to accept himself for who he is. Also, he makes new friends at his new school.
Olivia "Via" Pullman: Auggie's older sister. She talks about Auggie and the hardships of being a sister of a deformed boy in Part 2. She truly cares for Auggie since she always defends him when someone says something mean or is rude whether or not it is on purpose, but as siblings go, the Pullman siblings can get in big fights sometimes. Via sometimes feels jealous of the attention August receives because of his deformity and young, sensitive self. She often scolds herself that as an older sister she has to also look out for him. She also feels guilty for being human towards her brother.
Summer Dawson: One of Auggie's first friends. She was brave enough to sit next to August during lunch when no one would sit next to him. After that, she began calling their lunch table the "Summer Table", and only someone who had a name relating to the season summer could sit there. Auggie quoted," She looked like summer. She had a tan and eyes as green as a leaf." She didn't care what the other students thought of Auggie, and she was very kind to him. She tells her point of view in Part 3.
Isabel and Nate Pullman: August and Via's parents. Isabel is a Brazilian woman, and Nate comes from European ancestry. They care about August, but save time for Via as well. Isabel is sometimes strict about on what August should and should not do, but Nate is more lenient. As described in Justin, Jack, and Miranda's point of views, the Pullman couple seem to be very kind and fair.
Jack Will: August's best friend. He was told by Mr. Tushman to tour August with Charlotte and Julian around the school. He is nice to August and funny. At first, he didn't want to be friends with August as he has heard about his facial deformity, but later became friends with August. Because he did not know whether he wanted to be popular or be August's friend at one point in the book, they have a falling-out. Their relationship deepens when they make up as they became more honest with each other. It is also revealed close to the end of the book that he had developed a crush on Summer; August's other friend.
Julian Albans: The primary antagonist. He sees August as a monster deviating from what is normal. He will get anyone he can convince to go against August, which is rather easy as he is rich and popular. As a result, he spreads rumors around about Jack and August, such as the 'Plague' (a contagious 'disease' that one will get if one touches August) and how Jack hired a hitman to 'get' him. At the end of the story, Julian's parents no longer want him to attend the middle school, as they say that they don't feel that it is the right choice for him. His mother, feels that August has no right to go to Beecher Prep because it is not an inclusion school and they find him emotionally and mentally disturbing. Julian's mother, for example, PhotoShops August's face out of the class picture and hands out copies to other moms.
Justin: Via's boyfriend. He had a main part in a play called Our Town in the book. He loves Via very much, as described in his part. In his part in the book, he doesn't capitalize his "I"'s and has various other grammatical mistakes. As the author has explained, the lowercase letters sometimes look like musical notes. As a graphic designer, she has learned to recognize fonts as not only letters of words but visual representations of other things. Justin is a musician and his thoughts flow and stream together rapidly, leaving no time for grammar and spelling.
Daisy: Via and August's first dog. She was August's first true friend. She was an old dog, and she dies at the vet's office after getting very sick. Everyone loved and missed her very much. Eventually, the family got a new dog named bear.
Miranda Navas: Via's friend. Via, Miranda, and Ella are friends. Miranda had recently cut her hair into a bob and dyed it pink, and dressed in a manner that she would have never dressed before, and she and Via slowly drifted apart. She took care of August as her little brother, and lied to everyone that August was actually her brother at camp. Miranda and Via become friends again at the end.
Title
The title is from the Natalie Merchant song of the same name and lyrics from the song are printed as an epigraph just before part one of the novel.
"Doctors have come from distant cities
just to see me
stand over my bed
disbelieving what they're seeing.
They say I must be one of the wonders
of god's own creation
and as far as they can see they can offer
no explanation" [1]
- ^ Palacio 2012, p. epigraph.
Bibliography
- Palacio, R.J. (February 14, 2012). Wonder (1st ed.). Knopf Books for Young Readers. p. 320. ISBN 0375869026.