Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Wonder

Author: R.J. Palacio

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf published in 2012

Pages: 316

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Summary 

Wonder is about a fifth-grader who has something called Treacher Collins Syndrome which is disfiguration of the left side of the face. He has been homeschooled up until this point in his life. His mother decides he needs to experience the world, so she enrolls him in a private school.  He faces many struggles from bullying to many prejudices. This book leaves readers young and old to wonder about friendship, compassion, empathy, acceptance and most importantly kindness in our society today.

Illustrations

The illustrations were illustrated by Palacio who is also the author. There are not illustrations throughout the book because it is a chapter book, but the author did create the book cover using art technology.

Content Area

This book would be used in the upper elementary grades; I would suggest using it in fifth grade. It could be used to teach several beneficial topics. Of course it can be used in Language Arts. The students could fulfill standards in fifth grade by making inferences and quoting text and identifying the theme and summarizing the text. This book can also be used to teach kindness and how kindness should be shown to everyone no matter what they look like. This would allow for a very positive class discussion of compassion, empathy, and friendship.