Wonder
R.J. Palacio (2012)
“A boy with a face that shocks strangers walks into fifth grade for the first time — and the whole school has to decide who they want to be.”
EraContemporary
Pages315
Difficulty★☆☆☆☆ Accessible
AP Appearances0
Character Analysis
Born with a severe craniofacial difference — mandibulofacial dysostosis combined with a rare genetic mutation — Auggie has had 27 surgeries by age ten. He has been homeschooled his entire life, surrounded by parents and a sister who love him without condition. He is deeply funny, obsessed with Star Wars, emotionally intelligent in ways that outpace most of the adults around him, and completely aware of his face and its social effects. He does not perform heroism; he survives, stubbornly and with humor, and that survival becomes something that changes the people around him.