Wonder

First of all, this might be my new favorite book!!!!! Like wow wow wow!!!

Ok, now that my emotions are out in the open, I'll get on to my real blog post...

In my opinion, Wonder should be required for all middle school students.  Middle school is such a difficult time for students, even without having to deal with the difficulties that August has.  Middle school was one of the most difficult times of my life because some girls decided I just didn't need to be their friend anymore.  Basically, when you mix all the hormonal changes of adolescence with a changing social realm, kids who used to be sweet sometimes turn mean.  This book has changed my outlook on kindness as well as even how I look at someone who is different.  It really opened my eyes to how much people notice in the subtle ways we treat people who are different from us.  I think this book could have a huge impact on middle school students.  It could also lead to great class discussions about why we should be kind to all people regardless of how they look, how they act, or how they treat us.  

I also really appreciated how the book was written.  I thought it gave it a whole other dimension.  Not only was it written from several different character's perspectives, but all the parts were the same story, but from different perspectives.  If the author had chosen not to do this, there's a lot of interesting information we would have missed out on. For instance, I thought the part when Via talked about the genetics of August's disease and how she wouldn't have kids because of the risk gave us a whole new insight to Via.  Seeing how Jack felt when he was talking to the boys about August on Halloween also gave the reader empathy towards his situation too.  He was put in a hard place too, but really was trying to do the right thing in the end.