Wonder by R.J. Palacio

313 pages

"August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school--until now. He's about to enter fifth grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been that 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?" -Dust Jacket

I have read a lot of books. Some have moved me to tears, some have made me laugh, some have kept me up late, but only a select few get to be called favorites. This is one of them. This book is all about the power of kindness. I love that. I think the world needs that. I will be reading this book to my kids before they start school this year and maybe every year after that.

Auggie is a normal 10-year-old boy in every way but his face. His family loves him and they love each other. (I like when families aren't dysfunctional.) I love that this book changes points of view--brilliant!--because it adds insight into what some of the other characters are going through and it helps the reader be less judgmental of some of the bad things they do and proud of the heroic things they do. I also love that you don't know exactly what Auggie's face looks like until his sister's chapters (which are especially touching, I thought) and by then you love Auggie and could care less what he looks like, yet what he looks like is the reason the kids do what they do because they don't get that luxury. It's an interesting juxtaposition.   

One of the teachers posts monthly precepts in his classroom that are little gems for all of us:
SEPTEMBER: "When given the chance between being right or being kind, choose kind." -Dr. Wayne W. Dryer
OCTOBER: "Your deeds are your monuments." -inscription on an Egyptian tomb
NOVEMBER: "Have no friends not equal to yourself." -Confucius
DECEMBER: "Audentes fortuna iuvat." (Fortune favors the bold.) -Virgil
JANUARY: "No man is an island, entire of itself." -John Donne
FEBRUARY: "It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers." -James Thurber
MARCH: "Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much." -Blaise Pascal
APRIL: "What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful." -Sappho
MAY:
"Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can." -John Wesley's rule
JUNE: "Just follow the day and reach for the sun!" -The Polyphonic Spree, "Light and Day"
AUGGIE'S PRECEPT MAILED TO MR. BROWNE DURING THE SUMMER: "Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all overcometh the world."

Makes me want to have monthly precepts for our family, starting with these.

I think the theme or message of this book is summed up by Mr. Tushman at the fifth grade commencement:

"...but what I want you, my students, to take away from your middle-school experience, is the sure knowledge that, in the future you make for yourselves, anything is possible. If every single person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary--the world would really be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God."

Love this book!