Wonder is a great book about a ten year old boy called August (Auggie for short) with a very rare medical condition. This boy does ordinary things and has an ordinary family. But it is his face that is not ordinary - he has already had 27 operations. People stare at him wherever he goes.
He doesn't start school until fifth grade (was home schooled by his Mum) before that. She is very protective of him so is his sister Via and his Dad too.
At school another boy called Julian is nasty to him and demands rude questions like "Have you been in a fire!" as well as laughing and talking behind his back. Things get bad and Julian starts a "war" against Auggie and his friends Summer and Jack. At one stage almost all the kids are not talking to them.
Lots of things happen but basically kids end up getting sick of the war and moving on to Auggie's side and slowly becoming his friend. He has to get hearing aids but copes really well. At the end of school he wins a award for the best student! And everyone has a photo with him hugging him and stuff. Apart from Julian who's parents decides to move him to a different school so it all works out fine.
Question: Do you agree with Mr Tushman's decision not to suspend Julian? Why/Why not?
WALT: Consider alternative viewpoints to better understand the author's message.
CS: Compare different characters points of view to form opinions.
At first I disagreed as I think Julian was the worst troublemaker and it was his fault that Jack hit him. I kind of wished he would be expelled. It seemed unfair that Jack had to be punished and Julian got nothing,
But after thinking some more I actually do agree that Mr Tushman made the right choice because otherwise Julian might have become even more angry made more fights and trouble basically making life for August even worse at school. Also it might have made Julian's rich parents angry and they might fight back too.
What do you think?
Question: August does a lot of growing up in Wonder. What actions decisions and words show that he's been growing up? Start with his decision of going to school. Keep adding to the list.
- Goes to school
- Goes to lunch by himself on first day (does not just go and hide)
- Puts himself to bed
- Knows why Via did not want him to go to her play
- Goes back to school after overhearing Jack
- Forgives Jack
- Agrees to wear his new hearing aid
- Decides to go on school sleep over
- Doesn't take his soft toy to camp
- Sticks up for himself to the mean boys
Question: Auggie and Via's descriptions of Halloween are quite different. What did you learn from Via that you did not already know from Auggie? What did you learn from Auggie that Via doesn't tell you? List at least three things unique to each person on a double bubble map.
Question: Justin's part of the book was all in lower case with bad punctuation. This shows that he is not your typical school boy! Create a symbol that represents you!
WALT: Make inferences to better understand the authors message.
SC: Use clues from the story to make connections beyond the text.
My symbol is meant to represent a graffiti wall of things about me. There are so many things I love that it was too hard just to chose one so that is how this came about!
