Wonder

Wonder by R. J. Palacio                      Audio Book:  8 hours, 6 mins           Hardback Book:  312 pages              

Great book.   Great story.    I saw the film first and was lucky enough to come across the book it was based on.   Auguste Pullman is a ten-year old who was born with mandibulofacial dysotosis, Treacher Collins Syndrome,  which is a distortion of the location and shape of the facial features.   Auguste or “Auggie” as his Dad calls him in reference to the son in the Huckleberry Hound cartoons, has had 27 different surgeries by the time he is 10 years old and even though some of that was reconstructive plastic surgery – according to the description of his features discussed at times lets the reader know his facial features must be similar to an extremely intensely burned victim.    At one time it is said he looks like his face has melted.     Auggie’s parents home-schooled him up until this time due to all of his surgeries and the sickness and trials that he went through after them.   Now, Auggie will be in the 5^th grade and his mother feels he has reached the limit of what she can teach him so the parents discuss it and decide to enter Auggie in a small private school.    He freaks out, but, ends up going along with the program.    He loves Science and his parents have surreptitiously checked out the school and saw the terrific Science lab they have there.    They sell it to Auggie finally on the Science note.    Life at school that year was not always fun and he was ostracized at first, no one would sit with him they didn’t want to get “the plague” as they called it.   But that soon was a thing of the past when a girl named Summer befriends him.  Much happens along the way and bullying occurs, there are side stories involving his sister and also friend and family relationships.     Excellent story – I enjoyed this book very much and I highly recommend it for people of all ages.    An in-depth experience of walking in the other person’s shoes and seeing both sides of issues.  Really, really good.   Another one of those books you don’t want to put down till you finish it.