Wonder

By: R.J. Palacio

Genre: Middle Grade

Pages: 316

Published: 2012

Told In: First Person

 “Movie” Rating: G

Compare to:

Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli

Counting by 7s, Holly Goldberg Sloan

The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet, Erin Dionne

In a nutshell:

Starting middle school is hard enough for most but especially for August who was born with face deforming gene and has never attended school before. But being around other kids may be just what he―and the other students―need.

What you may enjoy:

Beautifully written with lovable characters. This is a happy, hopeful story. It moves along quickly and gives the perspective of several characters. The writing is so smooth that reading just 10 pages turns into 50. For a light, sweet book there is a lot of depth.

What you may NOT enjoy:

The purposeful typos and errors in some characters’ perspectives is distracting. The overarching moral that all problems can be solved by being nice bothers some readers. And structures of the plot are set up a little too perfectly.

Warnings:

Violence and Disturbing Images:

Mentioned that a woman died of a heart attack; boy punched in the mouth; dog dies

Sex and Nudity:

Boy and girl kiss (twice)

Language and Profanity:

God (9 times)

Drugs and Alcohol

Teenage smoking 

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