Book Review: Wonder by RJ Palacio (middle grade novel)

People with craniofacial disorder can't hide their "otherness". And you can't help noticing them. How do you react? Do you look away? Do you stare? Does misunderstanding or fear provoke you to...? Author RJ Palacio empathized. This empathy prompted her to act. She wrote Wonder. Her book inspired the Choose Kind movement.

'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

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Publisher:  Knopf Books for Young Readers

Published in 2012

From kindergarten to grade four, August Pullman--a boy with craniofacial disorder--has been homeschooled. But in grade five, he enters public school.

How is he treated? Is he bullied for being different? Or does he find acceptance? 

Wonder is told by six diverse characters:  

Auggie

Summer, Jack (two of Auggie's classmates)

Via (Auggie's older sister)

Justin (Via's boyfriend)

Miranda (Via and Auggie's friend)

The first voice we hear is Auggie's:

'If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all... [T]he only reason I'm not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.'

"Abby cuddling" ldyck

Book Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (fantasy YA)

Can you guess the story from these clues?

dark forest

an enchanted sleep

Sleeping Beauty, right?

And also The Darkest Part of the Forest.

But in her book, author Holly Black re-writes stereotypical gender roles. 

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Publisher:  Little, Brown Books

Published in 2015

Fairfold is a small tourist town whose main attraction is the fairie Folk--namely the horned boy in his glass coffin. But who helped him escape? And where is he now? These are the questions that protagonist Hazel and her brother set out to answer. 

In The Darkest Part of the Forest, author Holly Black explores what it feels like to be--and the prejudice that can arise from being-- labeled as 'other'.

Favourite quote...

'[T]he elf woman spoke in a voice like wind and rain and brittle leaves snapping underfoot.' (p. 9)

More...

I've also enjoyed reading Doll Bones a middle grade fantasy by Holly Black.

Visit Holly Black's website. She offers an information-rich 

 Writing Advice page

"Abby rocking it" ldyck

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