This book was much talked about last year and for good reason. It is not the usual coming-of-age novel where a student starts his first day of school at a new school dealing with bullies and pressing middle school matters. That stuff is there, but this character is very different than any characters before. August, or Auggie, has a rare genetic disorder that has made his face look like that of a B-Movie monster. He has been home schooled his whole life due to continued illness, but his parents have decided that it is time for him to go to a real school at the start of middle school. This time period would be hard enough for anyone, but it is especially hard for Auggie as he has to deal with the reactions of all the students around him while trying to decide who he is as a person as well.
The author uses multiple perspectives to tell this story. This opens up the book to see the reactions of everyone around Auggie and letting us understand how they really feel and how actions and thoughts can actually be two different things. This was a great story for learning about being in the shoes of other people and how to accept people for who they are and not how they look.
Intended reading level: Grades 4-8
Genre: Realistic Fiction, School fiction
Questions to the Readers: Have you ever felt like an outsider? If so, how did that make you feel? In what ways has Auggie always stayed true to himself? How has he changed over the course of the novel?
Read-alikes: The Misfits by James Howe, The Giant-Slayer by Iain Lawrence
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