Wonder, the best-selling book by R.J. Palacio, is being made into a movie! We have the details on the book and the movie, as well as links to free educational resources and classroom ideas based on the book!
Wonder is coming to theaters on November 17, 2017, and boasts an all-star cast including Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay, and Mandy Patinkin. You can click here to visit the film’s official Facebook page!
Like the book, the film tells the story of August, a kid with a genetic craniofacial abnormality that caused his face to be deformed. When he finally attends school for the first time, he changes the lives of those around him.
The book Wonder has won wide acclaim and became a New York Times #1 bestseller. Here is more information on the book, and some free education resources.
Despite his differences, August and his parents decide to transition him from home school to private school now that he’s entering fifth grade. It’s the start of middle school, they reason, so everyone will be new. But August has to deal with so much more than just being new. Will he make friends? Will he decide to stay at the school? And can the people around him learn to see past his appearance?
This brilliant, sensitive story—narrated not only by August, but also by his older sister, his classmates, and other kids in his life—takes an insightful look at how one person’s differences can affect the lives of so many others.
Due to numerous surgeries, Auggie had been home-schooled by his mother, but his parents decide to enroll him in Beecher Prep, a private school, for the start of middle school in the fall. Auggie visits Beecher with his mother and meets the school director Mr. Tushman, along with three students: Jack Will, Julian Albans, and Charlotte Cody.
Although extremely self-conscious and scared of being around kids his own age, Auggie gradually gets used to school. He befriends Jack and Charlotte as well as a girl named Summer Dawson, who sat with him during lunch when everyone else wouldn’t. Julian, however, barely conceals his disgust at Auggie’s appearance, avoids him and often makes hurtful remarks. He bullies Auggie and hates him for the way he looks.
During Halloween, when Auggie doesn’t feel like wearing his Boba Fett costume because he didn’t want to make his father even more late for work, he wears a “Bleeding Scream” costume instead, a robe with a mask that has fake blood oozing out. Unrecognized, he walks around school knowing he would not get bullied as his face is covered by the mask. When he reaches homeroom, he overhears Jack telling Julian he would “kill himself” if he looked like Auggie. Feeling hurt and betrayed by Jack, Auggie decides to quit school, but his older sister Olivia, known in the book as Via, convinces him not to.
Auggie confides the incident to Summer, and making her promise not to tell anyone about the issue. Jack notices that Auggie has become quiet and distant; he asks Summer why, and though she won’t divulge the secret, she says “Bleeding Scream” as a hint. At first, he isn’t aware that Auggie heard of what he said and believes that he’s just avoiding him for no reason, so he starts avoiding him too. In December, however, Jack realizes Auggie had overheard what he said and realizes that he also heard that Jack was pretending to be friends with him, leaving Jack shocked.
In science class, Auggie and Jack are partners for a project. When Julian asks the teacher if he could be Jack’s partner instead, Jack declines. But when Julian calls Auggie a “freak,” Jack punches Julian in the face in retaliation. As a result, Jack is suspended for two days for his actions. Knowing that Julian would get them both in trouble for bad-mouthing Auggie, Jack does not tell Mr. Tushman what happened. Julian’s mother says that Auggie does not belong in Beecher Prep, as it is not an “inclusion school,” but Mr. Tushman and everyone else disagrees with her. Jack sincerely apologizes to Auggie, saying he didn’t mean to say the stuff he said about him, and they become friends again.
During the rest of the school year, August is bullied by Julian and his gang. They begin to leave bullying notes on his and Jack Will’s lockers, eventually causing them to write notes back, though less mean and more comedic, about a fictional character named Beulah. One night, August gets into a fight with Via and his mom, and August storms up to his room. A few minutes later, Via comes inside and tells August that their mom took their dog, Daisy, to the vet because she was whimpering a lot. Later, August’s mom and dad came back, and said Daisy had a tumor in her stomach, possibly stomach cancer, and had to be put to sleep.
During a school trip to a nature reserve, August and Jack are attacked by seventh graders, they are defended by several members who were Julian’s friends, since Julian wasn’t at the trip, he becomes less popular, and August is generally more accepted by the pupils of the school.
At the year-end graduation ceremony, Auggie is awarded the “Henry Ward Beecher Medal” which “honors students who have been notable or exemplary in certain areas throughout the school year.” He gets a standing ovation, which inspires his precept for Mr. Browne, and takes pictures with everyone and goes back to his house for a party to celebrate.
The book ends with his mother whispering in his ear, “You really are a wonder, Auggie. You are a wonder.”
