Wonder: Ordinary (Ch 1) - Names (Ch 31)

[Prof. Amy Lupin]

In this post we'll be discussing chapters 1 through 31 of Wonder.

We'll be including a short prompt in every post to get you thinking but you are more than welcome to ignore or adapt them. We'd love to hear absolutely anything that occurs to you while reading (however small) just so long as it's HOL-appropriate.

The first chapter of the book is titled "Ordinary". Auggie's parents say he is extraordinary. In which ways is he ordinary and extraordinary?

Please remember to include spoiler tags when discussing specifics.

[Shiloh Adlar]

I'm going to put this whole thing in spoilers just to be safe even though I don't think I'm giving out a lot of spoilish information, it's still somewhat spoiling? I hate that word by the way.

Although I was bullied for other reasons than August is "bullied," I still feel for him a lot in this book. I can empathize with a lot of what he is feeling even though our thoughts were quite different. So far this books has its funny moments and also moments that make me so angry, not at August, but the people around him.

I think August is ordinary in the ways that he, like every other child, likes certain things like Star Wars or really likes science. He also worries about his first day of school. He gets mad at his mom like ordinary children do from time to time. He makes jokes, too.

He's extraordinary in the way that he's trying to push through the uncomfortable-ness of the situation at school. He begins to come out of his shell (or helmet I guess), little by little. From the essay he writes in the book, he must be an intelligent child even if he has only been homeschooled until now. And even though things at the end of this part seem to be going downhill, I have this feeling that he's going to push through them and surprise everyone.

[Prof. Kendra Givens]

I was thinking a lot of the same things Shi already said. Auggie does plenty of things the 'ordinary' kids do, in very similar and also very different ways. Those alternate methods of processing are what I think make him extraordinary. He enjoys Star Wars and Halloween just like many people do, but he cites enjoying Halloween because he can wear a mask and no one notices he's different. He's excited to have friends like a normal kid and is also shattered by hearing his so-called 'friends' talk about how they're being friends with him essentially because they were told to. That can happen to anybody but must be more impactful for someone who feels he doesn't fit in based on appearances, which he has no control over. I cried (first time) at the end of the chapter when he says "you can't fix a face". The extraordinary is that he can tell himself that and keep working through it and enjoying himself. I think it's extraordinary that he can walk around knowing people are staring at him constantly because he's different and say that he doesn't blame them and he would be shocked too if he were someone seeing something he's never seen before (the Wookie analogy). He's just like any other normal, happy kid until he's slapped in the face with something he has to work through and keep going again.