Description
Book SynopsisA stunning illustrated edition featuring original colour artwork by Tad Carpenter, the artist behind Wonder''s iconic cover, which celebrates ten years of this bestselling global phenomenon.
''My name is August. I won''t describe what I look like. Whatever you''re thinking, it''s probably worse.''
Auggie wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things - eating ice cream, playing on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But ordinary kids don''t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids aren''t stared at wherever they go.
Born with a facial difference, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life. Now, for the first time, he''s being sent to school. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he''s just like them, underneath it all?
A funny, frank and astonishingly moving novel to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page, this special anniversary edition also features an afterword from the author on ten years of Wonder.
Trade ReviewRemarkable . . . It has the power to move hearts and change minds * Guardian *
Incredibly charming, brutal and brilliant * Observer *
It wreaks emotional havoc . . . To finish it with a firm resolve to be a better person - well, you can't ask much more of any book than that * Independent *
When the kids have finished with this, the adults will want to read it. Everybody should * Financial Times *
Awesome . . . So authentic you'll swear a kid wrote the book. And yes, that's a good thing * Glamour *
An amazing book . . . I absolutely loved it. I cried my eyes out -- Tom Fletcher
What a gem of a story. Moving and heart-warming. This book made me laugh, made me angry, made me cry -- Malorie Blackman
I am terrifically jealous of everybody that gets to read
Wonder for the first time. Every page is honest, brave and delightful. The most sparkly book I've come across for whiles -- Laura Dockrill
It’s one of those rare books with almost universal appeal: it will make you laugh, cry and break your heart * The Bookseller *
Thoughtful but never preachy. A great book -- Sophie Kinsella
The breakout publishing sensation of 2012 will come courtesy of Palacio, a New York graphic designer whose debut novel,
Wonder, is destined to go the way of Mark Haddon's
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and then some . . . It is dark, funny, touching and no Tube carriage will be without a copy this year * The Times *
A children's book that's making grown men cry * Observer *
Incredibly charming, brutal and brilliant * Observer *
What a gem of a story. Moving and heart-warming. This book made me laugh, made me angry, made me cry -- Malorie Blackman
The breakout publishing sensation of 2012 will come courtesy of Palacio, a New York graphic designer whose debut novel,
Wonder, is destined to go the way of Mark Haddon's
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and then some . . . It is dark, funny, touching and no Tube carriage will be without a copy this year * The Times *
It wreaks emotional havoc . . . To finish it with a firm resolve to be a better person - well, you can't ask much more of any book than that * Independent *
When the kids have finished with this, the adults will want to read it. Everybody should * Financial Times *
A children's book that's making grown men cry * The Observer *
Awesome . . . So authentic you'll swear a kid wrote the book. And yes, that's a good thing * Glamour *
Wonder by R. J. Palacio is the tremendously moving story of young Auggie, who was born with a rare syndrome resulting in a severe facial disfigurement. Throughout his life he is ignored, avoided, laughed at, called names and physically bullied. All this sounds very bleak, but Auggie and his family are so delightful, and there are individual acts of kindness that ultimately make
Wonder an uplifting, hopeful and important book * The Bookseller *
I am terrifically jealous of everybody that gets to read Wonder for the first time. Every page is honest, brave and delightful. The most sparkly book I've come across for whiles -- Laura Dockrill
It is curious how the gravity of serious subjects can be best expressed through humour. Comedy humanises: the light touch gives weight. It's a tactic R. J. Palacio has used to great effect in her remarkable story of a year in the life of 10-year-old August Pullman . . . It makes ordinary things extraordinary . . . Palacio has a great ear for dialogue, a sharp eye for detail and an instinctive sense of comedy. All this makes her an expert chronicler of ordinariness – and this, paradoxically, is what makes her story of an extraordinary boy so wonderful.
Wonder certainly delivers what it promises – an emotional rollercoaster ride in which tears, laughter and triumphant fist-pumping are mandatory. But it is better than that. In its assured simplicity and boldness (reminiscent – it seemed to me – of
To Kill a Mockingbird), it also has the power to move hearts and change minds. * Guardian *
