REVIEWED BY JOSEPH, 12, WA
Wonder by RJ Palacio, Random House Children’s Books, ISBN 9780552565974
Joseph borrowed this book from his school library.
August is born with a facial deformity and people think he’s ugly. He has always been home-schooled but now he has to go to school and face first impressions and bullies. There are 8 parts of the book (or 9 if you count the Julian chapter). In parts 2–5 you can read everyone else’s point of view before continuing with the rest of the plot. This meant you had background to the other people in the book and I liked that. It doesn’t have a standard plot and it was different from other books I’ve read.
Wonder reminded me a lot of the book Ugly by Robert Hoge (one of my Top Reads choices in 2015), and it makes me wonder if Wonder was based on a true story too.
This was a good read, well-written and engaging — and I wanted to keep reading it all in one run.
I would recommend Wonder for advanced 10-year-old readers and above.
Joseph is one of our regular book reviewers. His most recent review (if you don’t count this one) was of The Secret Island. If YOU would like to send us a book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
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