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This weekend my family and I watched the movie, Wonder Your children will probably be familiar with it, as it’s a book that has made its way into every school! I highly recommend it.  (Common Sense Media recommends age 10+ and parents and kids on Common Sense Media recommend age 8+).

Wonder is about a ten-year-old boy named August (Auggie) who was born with genetic facial differences – Treacher Collins Syndrome.  He’s had over 20 surgeries and is able to see, hear and talk but his face still looks different and that causes people to stare.  Up until grade 5, he’s homeschooled and goes out in public wearing an astronaut helmet, but then his Mom decides that it’s time for him to attend school as it will only get harder.

No matter how young or old you are, this movie pulls at heart-strings and evokes empathy.  There are so many good quotes connected to life lessons:

“We were born to stand out, not blend in”

“When given a choice between being right or being kind, choose kind”

This movie you will want to watch with your children and teens.  There are so many valuable points to discuss:

How could Auggie find the strength to keep going to school every day knowing that he would be enduring more bullying?

Why was Julian so mean to him?

What do you think of Julian’s parents?  (They minimize and dismiss Julian’s bullying behaviour.)

What would it feel like to be Auggie’s sister, Via?

What is the importance of family?

In essence, the movie covered the themes of:

• bullying
• physical differences
• being a sibling of a brother or sister with significant differences
• being a parent of a child with differences
• acceptance
• empathy
• betrayal
• forgiveness
• emotional pain
• family connection
• popularity and peer pressure
• inner person vs. outer appearance
• courage
• friendship
• kindness

I’ve heard of many schools going to see Wonder Hopefully, now that it’s available online, it will be watched in many more classrooms and homes.  This kind of movie provides the opportunity for such rich discussion.

Imagine what it would be like to be Jacob Tremblay, the 11-year-old Vancouver-born actor, who played Auggie.  In an interview, he explained that each morning it took two hours to have the prosthetics applied to his face and then half an hour to remove them at the end of the day.  He said, that the prosthetics really helped him to imagine being Auggie and what it would be like to be a 10 year old with facial differences.

If you have not already read the book or watched the movie, I hope you will.  It’s definitely one that leaves a lasting impact.

How Did the Idea for the Story, Wonder Happen?

The author,  R.J. Palacio, came up with the idea for the story after a true experience with her own children. They were in an ice-cream shop when they saw a girl with craniofacial differences.  Palacio’s three-year-old son started crying and Palacio felt so uncomfortable that she quickly whisked her kids out of the ice-cream shop and then regretted the way she handled the situation.  She wished they would have stayed at the ice-cream shop and that she would have started chatting to the girl with the craniofacial differences.  That same night, Palacio started writing, Wonder  She named the book “Wonder” after Natalie Merchant’s song, Wonder.  These are the opening lyrics:

Doctors have come from distant cities
Just to see me
Stand over my bed
Disbelieving what they’re seeing

They say I must be one of the wonders
Of God’s own creation
And as far as they can see they can offer
No explanation

Since the release of Wonder Palacio has also written a companion book to Wonder  Auggie & Me which shares the perspectives of Julian (the boy who bullies Auggie), Charlotte (who is nice enough but not a true friend) and Christopher (Auggie’s early childhood friend).  Palacio has also written another book 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Book of Precepts  Mr. Browne is Auggie’s grade 5 teacher and his daily precepts play an important part in helping Auggie and his classmates.

Auggie truly is a wonder and in my opinion, the whole cast is excellent!

For other articles I have written on grit, see Remembering the Importance of Grit and Resilience, How Do Children Succeed: The 7 Character Strengths,  How to Teach Our Kids to Have More Grit – Rock Solid Emotional Resilience.

Warmly,

PS.  Thank you for your continued support of my book: Surfing the Worry Imp’s Wave ~ Empowering Children to Understand and Overpower Anxiety.  You can order it here on my website.

PPS.  The above article contains Amazon links which give me a tiny commision toward the running of this website.  You are not charged a penny more and I am grateful for any purchases made through these links.