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Wonder

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Author: R.J. Palacio
Awards: Texas Bluebonnet Award
Age Range: 9-13 years old

Summary: The main character of the book is August, who goes by his nickname "Auggie." Throughout the story, we get an insight into Auggie's life and how he deals with going to a real school and interacting with many peers for the very first time. Auggie is very different from most children his age because he has had to undergo many surgeries due to being born with a cleft pallet and having a very severe condition that causes him to have a facial difference. Many people often stare at Auggie, which embarrasses him. At first, he did not want to go to school but eventually warmed up to the idea. He had a hard time at first because people were rude, called him names, and would avoid him because people were scared to catch "the plague." Those first few months were the hardest, but he found two very good friends, Summer, and Jack. Eventually, all the kids began to see Auggie as a nice kid and did not care about his appearance. At the very end, Auggie won the Henry Ward Beecher Award for having courage and being kind that school year. Everyone chanted Auggie's name as he went to accept his award. 

Evaluation: This book is very different from most books because the story is told from the point of view of many different characters. That is one of the reasons why I really enjoyed Wonder. Readers were able to get the full picture of what happened from different sources. I would use this book with 5th and 6th graders because it is a little more complicated and long. An activity that I would have the students do after we finish reading the book would be to pick a character and write an essay on how they changed throughout the story. 
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