Review by Booklist Review
As Palacio explains in the introduction to this collection of three previously published e-book stories, calls for a sequel to Wonder (2012) are both frequent and ineffective it's not going to happen. Instead, she offers these deeper looks at three minor characters. In the abstract, it makes sense; the point of Wonder, after all, was about looking behind surfaces to find the nuance. The Julian Chapter is the strongest story and, most readers will agree, the most necessary, as Julian was the closest thing to a villain to our facially deformed fifth-grade hero, Auggie. Here, his bullydom is revealed to be a cog in a much larger familial machine out of his control. Pluto looks at Auggie's old friend, Chris, showing how his failures as a friend to Auggie inspire him to do better. Shingaling, meanwhile, follows classmate Charlotte as she navigates friend-gaining and friend-losing with a bevy of handmade Venn diagrams. Auggie feels shoehorned into the latter stories, making them feel a bit typical. Even so, Palacio's strength remains her straightforwardness, especially when it comes to children's instinctive fear of Auggie. Mostly for superfans, of which there are plenty. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Wonder was a number-one best-seller and critical darling, and the media machine for this featuring dedicated sites, hashtags, outreach, and classroom guides is well under way.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Few first novels beget a franchise, but Palacio's Wonder (2012), about a boy with a severe facial deformity, is a phenomenon. A bestseller since publication, it has also spawned a standalone companion book, 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts (2014). But despite requests from readers for a sequel, Palacio writes in her introduction to this collection of three previously released e-singles, "I can guarantee that... the de facto sequel will never be written." Instead she offers the back stories of three kids in Auggie Pullman's orbit, beginning with the "much-loathed" Julian, who suffers from nightmares and anxiety. Julian's story is the most didactic, but it will have classroom use as an "anatomy of a bully" lesson, suggesting that readers look behind a mean-spirited act to understand what drives it. Readers also spend time with Christopher, Auggie's best friend until his family moved to Connecticut, and Charlotte, a classmate chosen to help Auggie transition from homeschooling to fifth grade. Readers who wanted more about Auggie will flock to this. Ages 8-12. Agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Horn Book Review
Three novellas previously published as ebooks are collected in this companion to Wonder, giving readers insight into lives running parallel to Auggie's. Emphasizing the theme of kindness, each story explores the evolution of friendships and selfhood in a year fraught with change. Earnestly depicted emotions gently drive the plot, as Palacio treats each narrator's fears and joys with a respect her audience will appreciate. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In the companion novel to Wonder, (2012) three students at Beecher Prep middle school tell stories that connect with Auggie Pullman's dramatic arrival into their worlds. "Sometimes friendships are hard," and friendship with Auggie Pullman is a special challenge. He is different. He looks different, and that's not easy in middle school. He has a "severe craniofacial difference," facial features that, even after many surgeries over the years, look like "the drippings on the side of a candle." Now, Palacio zeros in on three characters: Julian, the bully; Auggie's oldest friend, Christopher; and Charlotte, the girl who is nice to Auggie but never especially friendly. Auggie is the common thread in their stories, but he's behind the scenes here, peripheral to their first-person narratives. Each character relates a story that includes an epiphany about friendship, family, and life. Auggie is the catalyst for transformations in their lives, but readers will see sides of characters Auggie never would have known. Originally published as short e-books, the stories are explorations of kindness, each character demonstrating how it takes bravery to be kind, how, in the tricky business of navigating new situations, "it's always better to err on the side of kindness." Not only a companion to Wonder, but a wonder in itself. (Fiction. 8-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
