Wonder

Summary

Wonder is a lovely book that explains the story of August, a young boy who was born with a facial deformity which makes him different from the rest of the kids his age. He has never been to schol (his mum used to teach him at home), but now his parents have offered him to give it a try. At first, he doesn't even want to think about it, because he knows that kids will look at him like if he was a monster. In spite of his negative attitude, his mom takes him to school in order to show him the building, meet the principal and some kids. After the visit, August decides to start school in September. As he expected, children can't take their eyes off him, they make fun of his face and talk behind his back. At one point he is about to give up, but somehow he ends up staying strong and feeling happy, with the help of two friends that have been by his side since the first day.

What I loved the most

The thing I loved the most about this book is that it is written from the point of view of different characters, so the reader can get into different people's minds. It starts with August and the way he sees things, then we get to know his sister Via a little more, and that way we can know what numerous characters think about August.

I also loved the way August talks about his desease; he's had to live with it since he was born, but he understands the shocked faces he sees whenever someone looks at him. Also, the fact that he makes fun of his own face at times adds up to this book.

It is very interesting how this novel reflects and, at the same time, criticises the famous quote "Don't judge a book by its cover". On one hand we have the kids that don't approach August because they are either scared or disgusted. On the other hand, the two kids that have stood by him since the first day, Jack and Summer (the boy who was told to be friends with August at first but then decided to stay by his side, and the girl who saw him sitting alone in the canteen and walked towards him to talk to him).

This book also shows the two sides of kids: they can either be very mean about someone's appearance or not care at all.


My personal opinion

I enjoyed this book, not only because it was entertaining and easy to read, but because it made me think. It made me think about how people in general, including me, prejudge other people based on their appearence, which is something we should stop doing. Books like "Wonder" help people see that we are wrong when we think we know everything about someone just by looking at them. There is no doubt society is evolving and we're making huge steps when it comes to being more tolerant and less judging, but that is something a lot of people still have to work on.

As I previously said, it is a very good book, and I would recommend it to everyone who wants to have a good time while reading but at the same time wants to think about the different issues that this book talks about.