In school we have just finished reading a book called Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He’s about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you’ve ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie’s just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, despite appearances. Auggie does make two close friends: Summer, a girl who actually likes Auggie for who he is, and Jack. Jack started out as Auggie’s “assigned” friend, and when Auggie finds this out, he and Jack have a falling out. However, they patch things up at Christmas, after Jack gets suspended for hitting Julian for badmouthing Auggie.This leads to a “war” among the boys: the popular boys against Auggie and Jack. While nothing more than mean words, in the form of notes in the lockers, fly between the two camps, the tension between the camps culminates in the spring.R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels. Visit R.J. Palacio’s blog at http://rjpalacio.com/index.html.

What I find really interesting is the way she was inspired to write the book. She had experienced what happened to Jack in the book. R.J. Palacio was sitting on a bench outside an ice-cream store with her younger son was 3 while her older son who was 11  went to get them some milkshakes. She looked over her shoulder at the little girl beside her and realized that the little girl  looked as she described August in the book. Then she started to panic not how the girl looked but how her son’s will react.  She thought that her younger son would start crying and her older son when he came out would do something that would hurt the little girl’s feelings. Eventually everything that she was scared at did happen her younger son started to cry and her older son when he came dropped the shakes on the floor. Then the little girl’s mom who saw and heard  everything then she got up and said to the little girl ” Come sweetie It’s time to go “. Then when R.J. Palacio went home she heard Wonder by Natalie Merchant playing on the radio. Then she got the idea to write this book without any outline. I recommend this book for everyone. This book can make you lauge your head off and sometimes it makes you burst into tears.