Following the phenomenal success of Wonder—a novel about the school life of a boy with a facial deformity (which we reviewed in issue 4/2013)—R.J. Palacio returns to Beecher Prep with a new protagonist.
Julian appears to be a tough kid. The way he treats Auggie marks him quickly as the school bully. But his story is more complicated than that. Dig deeper into Julian and you find a child not so different from the rest—someone whose cruelty is armor, hiding the vulnerabilities underneath.
A protective shell that even his parents cannot crack. Julian's Story is an excellent companion to the original novel but stands on its own. You don't need to have read Wonder first. Instead, it tells a parallel tale about the insecurity and fragility of childhood friendships, entirely independent in its scope and resonance.
Matteo Cinti, 2016