Wonder #5

text title: wonder

Author: R.J palacio

text type: novel

september 2020

Wonder is about a ten year old boy named Auggie who was born with facial deformities. His mother, wanting to protect him, has homeschooled him up until 5th grade. The book follows Aggie through his first year at public school and displays the struggles Auggie endures because he looks different than his peers. His peers, having never seen someone like him before, struggle to comprehend that he is just the same as them. In his first year, Auggie makes a friend named Jack Will. After spending time with Auggie, Jack gets to know him and realizes that Auggie is just a regular 5th grader and he isn’t some sort of ‘monster’ like all of his other classmates think. Jack Will ends up talking about Auggie behind his back and when Auggie finds out, he stops talking to him. He then makes friends with a girl named Summer who is sick of having friends that are mean to Auggie and don’t care about her. Jack and Auggie eventually become friends again and gain a lot more friends on their journey as his classmates realize he is just like them. Auggie’s extraordinary journey will unite them and prove ‘you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out’.

Jack Will is Auggie’s first real friend at his new school. It’s this combination of being pure at heart and kind of impulsive that makes Jack such an interesting character for me. I believe Jack, in a lot of ways, is the most relatable kid in their group. This is Because Jack chooses to become friends with Auggie, he gets thrown onto the receiving end of the bullying from Julian and his friends. I feel as though I can relate to Jack on a level with getting teased and bullied for who you’ve been/are friends with. Throughout primary school, I used to get made fun of for being friends with the ‘lame’ people then got put into that classification of friend group. Julian becomes a part of Auggies unavoidable struggles and gets caught between being popular or having a real friend.  “And the truth is, though nobody’s that obvious about it: nobody wants to hang out with him. Everyone’s way too hung up on being in the popular group, and he’s just as far from the popular group as you can get.” Because he’s caught in between, he ends up talking about Auggie behind his back, resulting in Auggie stopping talking to him. After this, Jack realizes he misses hanging out with him and that he has lost a true friend. Because Jack makes these mistakes, it shows the audience that he’s not perfect, making him more relatable. I feel that I can relate to Jack the most because I have also been in situations where I have had to choose between something that everyone else believes I should do and something I think is right. What I found interesting about Jack is that he defied everyone else’s opinions, even though he wasn’t 100% sure that becoming Friends with Auggie was a good choice. He took a chance and it paid off. Jack is the one who wants to be good but gets distracted by the easy road sometimes, which I think very relatable to many people within today’s society, people try to find the easy route to things and avoid the challenge. 

The main message I took from the text is to Tolerance people’s Differences, be accepting to everyone because you never quite know what they are going through. “Be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle. And if you really want to see what people are, all you have to do is look”. It tells us that Auggie wishes for everyone to not judge people before you get to know them. Middle school is often a ruthless place, and some kids who are different in any clear way will stand out from the crowd and face bullying just because they are not the same as everyone else. Auggie’s differences are evident the minute he stepped foot in school, however, the other kids had to get used to the way he looked and accept him for who he is. The more the other kids spend time around Auggie, the more they realize that his outward appearance does not make him any different from them on the inside. Auggie’s presence at Beecher Prep helps everyone in the school become more tolerant and more accepting. “It’s not enough to be friendly. You have to be a friend.” I feel as though I can relate to this message from the text because I have been around people that had bullied people for being different than everyone else and even though I may not have any severe noticeable deformities I too have been bullied for my appearance, been called names from being fat to bigfoot even cyberbullied. I believe that this is a very important message that I would hope that everyone that reads this book can take away. Bullyings a major thing in today’s society still and I believe will always stick around because its human nature, even though it may stick around we can work as a society/world as a whole to work towards accepting difference. So the main message I took away from the book is don’t judge a book by its cover and do not have judgment towards people for looking/being different. 

Bullying is still a very relevant topic in today’s society. On Auggies first day, Julian makes a comment, trying to make fun of Auggie which sparks constant bullying from him. By the end of the novel, the bullying has stopped as Julian has lost all of his friends to Auggie and Jack. Because Julian treated Auggie so poorly, his friends started to realize that what he was doing was wrong and they didn’t want to be a part of it anymore.”‘There are no nice ones” This quote is said by Auguie when his sister comments about the kids from his school. This tells the reader that Auggie believes that no one will ever be nice or want to be his friend. I think one of the main messages we can take from this bullying is to treat people how you would like to be treated. I believe the bullying from Julian in the novel was to show readers that the people who bully always turn out to be the ones who haven’t got any friends. I can relate to this situation because I used to have a friend that wasn’t nice to anyone and bullied people because they looked different, I stopped being their friend and eventually, everyone else left too as we all noticed and realised what they were doing is wrong. After Julian had had his revelation that what he was doing was wrong, Auggie didn’t blame him or hold a grudge against him. “I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives.” Auggie at the end of the book tells us that he forgives Julian and he wishes everyone an experience that was great to him, including the people that were mean to him. It also just shows the readers how kind and forgiving he is as a person. Auggie stood up to the bullies and ended up with a great group of friends that have his back and care about him greatly. 

I believe the title ‘Wonder’ is extremely appropriate for the novel because exceptional human beings are often called wonders of the world. And I think the auggie is a wonder. “You really are a wonder, Auggie. You are a wonder”.  I also believe ‘Wonder’ suits the novel because it makes you wonder, if you were him, or them, how would you act in that situation. Would you be the one to defy the prejudice thoughts and become friends with Auggie, or would you be the one to just look the other way. “Sometimes I think my head is so big because it is so full of dreams” This quote from Auggie tells us that he wonders and ponders over so many thoughts and things a day. He has so many dreams and things he wants to achieve. 

I believe the title ‘Wonder’ is extremely appropriate for the novel because exceptional human beings are often called wonders of the world. And I think the Auggie is a wonder. “You really are a wonder, Auggie. You are a wonder”.  I also believe ‘Wonder’ suits the novel because it makes you wonder if you were him, or them, how would you act in that situation. Would you be the one to defy all the comments and thoughts and become friends with Auggie, or would you be the one to just look the other way?. “Sometimes I think my head is so big because it is so full of dreams,” Auggie tells us that he wonders and ponders over so many thoughts and things a day. He has so many dreams and things he wants to achieve which I find really inspiring considering what he had been through he still tried to keep a positive look towards life and his dreams.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel I found it a very heartwarming, educational book that i would definitely read and watch the movie again. This book is a real opener for what bullying can and how it really affects the ones being bullied but not only the ones being bullied, but the one bullying. Wonder is a great read to enlighten readers on how to treat people correctly with respect and kindness. and I believe would be a great way to teach the younger generation what kindness and caring really is and how we should be being kind towards everyone as the saying goes ‘kill them with kindness’.