wonder part 1

        

               Growing up being teased and made fun of is never something you want to go through. I was teased all the time growing up for either being really tall or being white in an all Hispanic school or just for being shy. I never had any abnormalities like Auggie does in Wonder, but the author writes this story with so much feeling that the reader feels like they are like Auggie. Reading this book, I felt like I knew what Auggie was going through. There were points that I cried, points where I was sad, and others times where I was smiling and laughing.

           Auggie has been sheltered all his life by his parents because of his health problems and also because they know the weird looks Auggie gets. Now it is time for Auggie to start 5^th grade and his mom thinks that he needs to go to a school. Auggie is not to thrilled with this idea (and I would not be either). He ends up going to school, and everywhere he walks people look at him like he has the plague. He gets some friends because he has a great personality, but there are some kids that still make fun of him. On Halloween, Auggie was so excited to wear his custom because he could feel normal, the mask made him feel that way. He walked into class thinking that this was the day he was not going to be made fun of, but he overheard someone he thought was his friend making fun of him and saying he did not know why Auggie was following him around. Auggie eventually forgave Jack for what he said. (I don’t think I could forgive Jack).

          This book has so many emotions going through it. I like that the story starts off with Auggie and his story then leads into other people. The other people’s stories get told, but then they talk about how they interact with Auggie and what they thought about him when they first saw him. Auggie’s sister is a sad story because she feels like she does not get as much attention as Auggie. She also wants to start high school with no one knowing how Auggie is because well she says she is not ashamed of him, but she is at times.  She talks about going to her Grandmas’ house for two week because Auggie had a surgery. When she comes home she talks about seeing Auggie the same way everyone else sees him like, a monster.

         As I was reading this book, I was wondering how I can make this book into different lessons. I think that it would be very insightful to have students write about a time where they felt like an outsider or different because of something about them. I also think that it would be interesting for students to write about how they would feel if someone like Auggie was in their class. How would you interact with them? Would you try to be their friend or ignore them? Would you be scared of them like everyone else? I also would like to do a craft project by drawing a self-portrait making sure they got all their features, and show everyone how different everyone is. I would also talk with the students about respect and bullying. These are very important topics and sometimes not talked about a lot. I would like students to write about what bullying means to them, then as a class create a document of things they will do to stop bullying and how they will hold themselves responsible if they are caught bullying someone. Then have the students sign it. There are so many great lessons in this book, especially on how to treat others.

         I think that this is a great book and all students should read this. It is not hard to read and the chapters are very simple. I think that the book captures different emotions and gets you think about how you treat others. Such a great book and I cannot wait to read more.