Book Review #21 - Wonder

I am a sucker for kindness.  Sometimes, when I can't get the words out to complain to a waiter about cold food or an empty drink, I think of my fear of seeming unkind as a weakness or failing.  After reading Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, I have decided that I will always, always, always err on the side of kindness...cold food and all.

You see, this is an excellent book.  It is about kindness.  It is a book I think everyone should read.  It is a book I gave to my seventh grader immediately after finishing and said, "Please read this," and hoped and wished he would and not ignore it like he does with some of my suggestions.  He did and he loved it too.  We have had some great conversations about it since and I learned some things about him when we discussed the various characters.

Good books do that.  They teach and inspire and warn and rebuke.  I felt all of those things as I read about a nice young man with a facial deformity that made him an outcast at school and in life.  I read about his fears and about his courage.  I read about how people treated him.  Once, in a moment of real confusion and questioning, I asked my mom what God could possibly have intended in his plan for people who suffered from debilitating mental illness.  I will always remember her response.  She said, "I think, in large part, they suffer so he can judge how we treat them."

Here is a quote from the book: “If every person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary - the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.”

There. I dare you not to love that quote. Auggie suffers so we can learn how to treat God's creations - deformed...beautiful and everything in between.  Read this book and decide which of Wonder's character's you most resemble.  They might be in middle school but I don't think any of us are too old to learn from Auggie.  Read this book!  Then have your spouse/kids/peers read it too!