Wonder
Wonder is a children's novel written by R. J. Palacio,[2] published on 14 February 2012. R. J. Palacio wrote Wonder after an incident where her son noticed a girl with a severe facial difference and started to cry. Fearing he would react badly, Palacio attempted to remove her son from the situation so as not to upset the girl and her family but ended up worsening the situation. Natalie Merchant's song of the same name made her realize that the incident could illustrate a valuable lesson. Palacio was inspired by Merchant's lyrics and she began writing. She named the book directly after the song and used the song's chorus as the prologue of the first chapter.
Themes & atmosphere
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What you might want to know about Wonder
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Ten-year-old August Auggie Pullman has been homeschooled in a Manhattan brownstone all his life because of a severe craniofacial difference.
It is fiction, but Palacio has said the book was inspired by an experience in real life when one of her sons reacted to a child with a craniofacial difference. The character Auggie is invented.
Yes. The 2017 film starred Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts, and Owen Wilson, and the 2024 spinoff film White Bird followed Julian's grandmother's storyline.
It is widely read in grades four through seven and is on many state and district required reading lists.
Wonder was written by R.J. Palacio, published in 2001 by Random House USA.
Wonder is 368 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Wonder takes most readers 6 to 8 hours to finish.
Wonder is a standalone novel by R.J. Palacio, not part of a series.
Wonder is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.