This month I read the book Wonder. Wonder is a 315 page realistic fiction novel by R.J. Palacio. Wonder mostly takes place at a school called Beecher Prep, a private school in Manhattan. In the beginning of the first part of the novel, Auggie(August) Pullman is a ten year old boy who is going to go to a real school for the first time. As the conflict develops, Auggie faces the challenge of going to school with his facial differences. Ever since Auggie was little, he has had a facial disability and has gone through many surgeries. In the rising action of the story, Auggie gets bullied by a boy named Julian. In a pivotal moment, Auggie overhears one of his only friends, Jack saying mean things about how Auggie looks. Auggie gets very sad about this. In the second part, the story is told from Auggie’s sister, Via’s point of view. In the beginning, Via tells of how she was always second to Auggie. As the conflict develops, Via feels separated from her two old best friends. Auggie tells Via about what he heard Jack say and Via basically tells him to suck it up. The third part of the story is told from Auggie’s friend Summer’s point of view. In the beginning, Summer tells of how she ignored what her peers thought and became friends with Auggie. As the conflict develops, Auggie and Summer work on their Egyptian Museum project together and learn more about each other. Summer also talks with Jack about why Auggie is mad at Jack. The fourth part is told from Jack’s point of view. In the beginning, Jack tells about the day that he gave Auggie a tour of the school in the beginning of the year. As the conflict develops, Jack and Auggie become friends. In the rising action, Jack tells lies and spreads rumors about what he thinks of Auggie. In a pivotal moment, Jack punches Julian in the mouth for calling Auggie a freak. The falling action tells of how Jack goes to Auggies house to work on a project and they both get to meet Via’s boyfriend for the first time. Part five is told by Justin(Via’s boyfriend). In the beginning, Justin is the lead of their school play, Our Town. As the conflict develops, Via gets a smaller part in the play, and Miranda gets the female lead. In the rising action, Justin sees Jack getting bullied by Julian and others. In a pivotal moment, Via confesses that she didn’t tell her parents about her role in the play because she doesn’t want them to bring Auggie. In part six, Auggie is talking again. In the beginning, he gets through the science fair while many people look at him weird. As the conflict develops, Julian starts putting mean notes in Auggie’s locker. In the rising action, Auggie finds out that Via doesn’t want him to come to her play and he gets very mad. In a pivotal moment, the Pullman family finds out that Daisy (their beloved dog) has to be put down. In the falling action, Auggie goes to Via’s play. The resolution tells of how Via and Justin get standing ovations for their lead roles at the play. Part seven is told by Miranda. In the beginning, Miranda spreads the word that she has a brother with a deformed face. This increases her popularity. As the conflict develops, Miranda is cast the lead in the school play. In the rising action, on opening night, Miranda realizes that Auggie is in the crowd. In a pivotal moment, Miranda lets Via take her part as lead in the school play. The fall action Miranda comes and says hi to the Pullmans, she goes with them to dinner. The resolution tells of how Miranda happily goes with the Pullmans to dinner. The last part, Auggie’s point of view, returns. In the beginning, Auggie goes to the nature retreat for three days. As the conflict develops, Auggie enjoys his time at camp with nature walks, and campfires. In the rising action, Auggie goes with Jack to the bathroom during their movie night. In a pivotal moment, a fight breaks out with some mean seventh graders that say mean things to Auggie. In the falling action, Augie’s mom picks him up and tells all about his adventures. In the resolution, everyone is happy, Auggie and Jack become heroes.
I really like this book because it’s very heartfelt, it has times when it makes you want to cry of happiness and/or sadness. R.J. Palacio does a great job in describing the details of every chapter of the book. I definitely recommend this book to anybody who likes reading books that are realistic fiction and are very emotional. This book made me happy sometimes and sad at other times. It has the perfect balance between sad and very happy times.
My favorite character from this novel is Summer. Chose summarize my favorite character because she shows courage throughout the whole story. Although Summer’s peers didn’t think it was the right choice for her to go and hang out with Auggie, she still did. She did the right thing and showed courage. On page 125, Summer says a meaningful quote, “Hey, you want to start working on our projects together after school? You could come over to my house.” This quote is meaningful to me because she shows the courage of inviting Auggie over to her house no matter what others think.
My favorite quote from the novel is one of Auggie’s teacher’s precepts. It says, “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.” This quote is meaningful to me because it states true words. To me this quote means that if someone is given the choice whether to be right, even if it’s not something nice or kind, everyone should always choose kind. For example, when Julian bullied Auggie. Julian stated true facts about Auggie’s fact, but the things he said weren’t kind. These things made a bad impact on Julian at the end of the story, which is proof that Julian should have chosen kind.
