The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. Two lines of text reading “you can’t blend in [/] when you were born to stand out” are written at the top in lower case white cursive. The author’s name “RJ Palacio” is written at the bottom in larger uppercase cursive. The background is blue. In the centre, art of the outline of a head with black hair. There are no facial features on the face except for one blue eye on the left of the cover (the right side of the face). Above the eye, the title of the book “Wonder” in black cursive. /end]

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Content Warning:

• Ableism
• Bullying
• Animal Death
• Medical Content
• References to Suicide

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Summary:

I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.

August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. Wonder, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others.

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Notes:

There is an audiobook.

There is a kindle edition.

A film of the same name was released in 2017.

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Archivist Comments:

I’ve seen some disabled people who love this book, I’ve seen some disabled people who hate this book. I’ve never read it so I can’t comment but opinion does seem to be a bit divided on it. I did find this TeenVogue article- ‘What “Wonder” Gets Wrong About Disfigurement and Craniofacial Disorders’ by Ariel Henley– that details some of the criticisms people have. It is about the movie, but people felt that you could apply it to the book as well.

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