Wonder

Written by R.J. Palacio
Copyright ©2012
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
Palacio, R. J., and Inc Knopf. Wonder. Print.

Awards: Winner of the 2013 E. B. White Read-Aloud Award for Middle Reader

Reading Level: Grades 4-7
Grade Level Equivalent: 4.8
Lexie Reading Level: 790L
Fountas and Pinnel Guided Reading Level: S
DRA: 40

Genre: Fiction, Diversity

Summary: August Pullman was born to Stand out. Plagued by a number of facial deformities and surgery scars Auggie enters his first day of school in fifth grade expecting stares and gawking children, but with the help of some unlikely friends August overcomes his obstacles and finally feels a little bit normal. 

Five words/phrases to describe the book: diversity, bullying, friendship, facial deformity, hope.

Suggested Delivery: independent reading, whole class, and small group reading and discussion.

Vocabulary:
Forewarned: inform (someone) of a danger or possible problem.
Phobia: an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.
Gene: a unit of heredity that is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring.
Pogrom: an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jews in Russia or eastern Europe.
Deformed: (of a person or part of the body) not having the normal or natural shape or form; misshapen.
Taciturn: (of a person) reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little.

Before, During and After Activities:

www.padlet.com is a website for communication and discussion a teacher can post a prompt and students can respond and view other student's responses. For Wonder I created a padlet to be used before and after reading the story. The aim is to have students think about the message in the book about friendship and to evaluate what friendship means to them. Before reading students should think about what friendship means to them. During reading students should mark in the book using sticky notes acts of friendship in the book. After reading students can return to the padlet to respond to the after prompt asking what friendship means to them after reading the book and reflect on an experience they have had.

Here is the padlet I created: Padlet Example


Postcard activity:
The goal of teaching is to make learning meaningful for students. In this activity students can write a postcard to to the author, a friend, or a character (it might even be fun to send them to another class in the building). The students should write as if they were one of the characters or the author. Prompt ideas can include a summary what happened in that day (pick a chapter). Or how he/she is feeling about an event that took place. You can even get creative and make the postcard the cover of the book or an image related to the story. This activity is easy to customize and promotes writing and comprehension.
Post Card PDF

An Interview with the Author:
This video would be a good way to introduce the book. R.J. Palacio talks about her inspiration for writing Wonder. This creates meaningful learning and motivation because seeing the author talk about her book and the passion for writing bring a connection between the students and the text. This is a ten minute video so it is not brief, but it gives the students insight into the author and the story.