Wonder Stories

Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories
R.J. Palacio
303 Pages
Reading time: 10 days

Inside cover reads: Millions of readers have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. Wonder tells his story from six different perspectives, but there were some characters whose unique perspectives were not shared--until now.
  The Julian Chapter gives readers a chance to hear from Wonder's most controversial character.  From the very first day Auggie and Julian meet, it was clear they were never going to be friends.  This story finally reveals the bully's side of the story.  Why is Julian so unkind to Auggie?  And does he have a chance for redemption?
  Pluto offers a peek at Auggie's life before Wonder.  Christopher and and Auggie were best friends from the time they were babies until Christopher's family moved away; he was there for all of Auggie's earliest memories, from surgeries to Star Wars marathons.  Pluto is the story of two boys who have grown apart but are learning that good friendships are worth a little extra effort.
  Shingaling shines new light on life as a fifth grader at Beecher Prep--as seen from the perspective of Charlotte, the girl chosen to be Auggie's "welcome buddy."  Readers will learn more about Charlotte and her budding friendship with reader-favorite Summer, how the girls at Beecher Prep react to Auggie attending their school for the first time, and how Charlotte came to write the precept she used at the end of Wonder: "It's not enough to be friendly.  You have to be a friend."
  This collection is a special treasury for readers eager to spend more time in Auggie's world.


Initial Reaction

Ok.  So this interesting little shnibblet (yes, that's a word), gives us a unique perspective of the timeline of Wonder.  We experience the viewpoints of Julian the bully, Chris the best friend, and Charlotte the welcome buddy.

My initial reaction to this book, other than my annoyance with Palacio's insistent overuse of adverbs like "so, so, so" and "very, very, very," is that kids these days (to a certain degree) are selfish little buggers who are completely unaware of anyone but themselves.  It does nothing but support my wish to home-school my children.  Also, I didn't want to keep reading this book.  Blarg

First, Julian.  Oh, Julian.  The clueless, rich-boy half-wit who is, sadly, the product of helicopter mothering and oblivious fathering.  This is the kind of character every kid loves to hate and feels justified hating.  Julian's bullying is in the style of "it was a joke!"  or "I was just kidding!"  We find out that his bullying is kicked up a notch when he starts putting vicious notes into Auggie's locker. For example: "I bet your mother wishes you had never been born.  You should do everybody a favor--and die."  The notes are discovered by the administration, he eventually ends up getting suspended, and his parents withdraw him from the school.  He feels no remorse and no shame for his actions.  He thinks that it's funny.  Julian's cluelessness is then combated when he visits his grandmother in France. She tells him a story about a "crippled" boy who saved her from the Germans.  The clouds break and it finally hits home.  Julian feels remorse for what he's done and even writes a letter of apology to Auggie. There's great redemption, but I still get this feeling like the sorrow is born purely from guilt, and the amends that Julian attempts are a result of wanting to rid himself of that feeling instead of a sincere effort to make right.

The thing that I find the most disturbing about Julian's chapter is not his actual behavior, but the behavior of his mother.  She enables Julian to do the things that she does by justifying them.  She whines to her husband and acts like a spoiled brat to get her way.  She photoshops Auggie's face out of her son's class picture just so she doesn't have to look at it.  She judges Auggie based on his physical appearance, and claims that kids with "special needs" have no place at her son's school, completely ignoring the fact that Auggie gets above average grades.  She starts rumors and gets the mom groups gossiping.  She tries to get one of the teachers fired.  She wants to sue the school and takes steps to do so.  She also refuses to take responsibility for her son's actions, and her behavior (as we can see) has impacted her son.  If Julian is the bully all the kids love to hate, then his mother is the villain all adults love to hate.  She blames the entire situtation on the fact that Julian was asked to be a welcome buddy to Auggie, and that kids can't really handle that kind of social pressure.  I just want to smack her.  On second thought, it's not only the kids like Julian that make me want to homeschool, it's the parents as well.

Whew!  Next Chapter!

The Pluto chapter is about Auggie's childhood friend, Chris.  This one is a rude, irresponsible kid who has this level of entitlement that would make anyone want to deprive him of all electronics for a week. The only person that he can think of is himself.  His parents  have separated and are on the brink of a divorce.  He hasn't seen his best friend in a while, and really doesn't see the need to keep up the relationship now that they go to different schools.  He only cares about using people for his own gain.  There is some small redemption at the end of the chapter, but again, I find it insincere.

Finally, we learn more about Charlotte, the only girl who was asked to be welcome buddy for Auggie at the beginning of the school year.  This chapter, stereotypically, focuses on all of the possible girl-drama that could happen in middle school.  The pressure to be popular, well liked, look and act the right way, etc.  Barf.  We get to learn how completely insincere, deceitful, and backstabbing girls can be at this age.  This chapter is less about Auggie and more about how girls deal with middle school.  Charlotte is a helpful girl who tries to get along with everyone.  A really strong friendship develops between 3 unlikely girls outside of school for a dance performance, but once that performance is over, it's back to normal.  So disappointing.  An alternative plot line about the Accordion Man kind of ties the whole thing together.

Promote Virtue?  Meh

Transcendentals?  Meh

Overcome human condition?  Meh

Attitude toward Catholicism?  NA

Paganry?  There are blips of "karma" crap in it.

Swearing?  No

Violence?  No

Appropriate age?  5th grade plus only if they've read Wonder.

Writing Style:  Palacio's writing style keeps the author engaged well enough, but her annoying use of redundant pronouns makes yet another appearance in this one.  Yes, I get it that she's trying to write using the voice of 5th graders, and they really can't help the way they talk.  Bullying has shock value, and I really think that's what she uses to draw her readers: their curiosity to discover motives.  However, I want books that challenge the reader out of mediocrity, not ones that encourage the reader to stay there.

Notable Quoteables:
"A hamster is basically just a warm potato with fur" (113).  Bahahahah!

Approval?
While this book did allow the reader some additional insights to the timeline of Wonder, it's just as mediocre as its companion.  I really didn't want to keep reading about selfish spoiled brats and middle school drama.  Therefore: