Wonder

By: R. J. Palacio

The extraordinary #1"New York Times"bestseller that has captivated over 1 million readers and inspired a movement to choose kind. "I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375873066
• ISBN13: 9780375873065
• Release Date: December 2035
• Publisher: Yearling
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Full of harmful stereotypes and ableist tropes

I wonder how this ever got published. The main character is a disabled child with craniofacial differences. His role is mascot and inspiration for the other characters, invariably good looking to his “ugly” . He is lauded throughout the book for existing in public despite his face. The other characters are called courageous for being willing to sit near him. The already tired old trope of disabled people are brave for living at all is stretched to novel length here. Moreover ableism towards people with other kinds of disabilities is rampant. “Emotional Problems”, “Kids with Special Needs”, and “Inclusion Schools” are derided as inferior. The message is act like the “normal” kids and be saintly in the face of abuse and you too can be accepted among your popular and pretty peers and rank above those whose differences clearly mean they are inferior and deserving of segregation. If you need to see what seeming to be nice but harming disabled people looks like, read this book, But don’t buy it and let this incredibly ignorant and problematic author profit any more than she already has by perpetuating stereotypes that have long been rejected by disabled people themselves.