My View

I enjoyed reading “Wonder’ tremendously. It is a very touching book, especially since there are many characters for the readers to identify with, in their reactions to August Pullman and his ‘hideous’ face, as well as their growing acceptance and friendship with him.
It is nice that there are people who stand by August no matter what. The way that the reader travels with the book through the character’s ups and downs makes it one of the best books that I have ever read. For instance, Summer, who impresses me the most. One of her many kind acts is to sit with August on the first day of school at recess when nobody else would. More than that, she continues to sit with him for the rest of the year – what a selfless and wonderful act.
During the nature retreat, Miles, Henry and Amos redeem themselves by rescuing August and Jack. By saving the two friends from a group of seventh graders who were bullying them, Miles, Henry and Amos showed that they were not pure mean, just misguided by gang leader Julian. Under him, they pick on the weak and defenceless. With Julian gone, they are much nicer people.
What really disappointed me was that August cut off his ‘Padawan Braid’, which took him a long time to grow. I guess he felt odd enough in school, without adding on more oddities. Or maybe he did not want to add more labels to himself (he was already being called the Orc, Freak and so on). This was evident later on in the book when he was preparing to go for a school camp and he asked his mother to get him a new plain duffle bag, as he did not want to bring his Star Wars one.
The book is one of the many ways to spread awareness that there are such people amongst us, people who are different from us, in looks and intellect. After all, the idea for the book was sparked when the author herself had her first encounter with a child who suffered the same syndrome. All in all, the book leaves the reader with a thought to ponder on – What would we do if we saw someone like August?