Wonder—marvel, beauty, something that stirs amazement. The opposite, one might think, of what August, the protagonist, should represent. August is one of thirty students in a class of eleven- and twelve-year-olds, and he is anything but a marvel. He is a stumbling block that his family, classmates, and teachers keep tripping over. He was born with a congenital facial deformity that makes him difficult to approach, difficult to love.
Though the book is fiction, Palacio's story is not only believable—it captures our interest and imagination while offering a hard look at beauty itself. What can we gaze upon and remain enchanted? What makes something worthy of admiration? What counts as beautiful, or simply "normal"? What makes an encounter with someone different so unsettling? How can we avoid dragging August's family into his burden? From the start, we face a challenge that seems to say we cannot succeed.
But we do. Every school activity—classes, games, sports, theater, friendship, love—all of it unfolds around August, shadowed by fear that he alone will ruin everything. Yet that is not what happens. Slowly, quietly, the mysterious work of goodness unfolds. Small victories accumulate. Certain gestures reveal unexpected beauty. Courage emerges to challenge what people assume to be true. All of it combines to show August that he is valued and vital to his family and to everyone who knows him.
Read it. It is a book that fills the heart.
Mariangela Bertolini, 2013