Twenty. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
2012, Zmora Bitan (this edition), 320 pages. Written in English, read in Hebrew.
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For a while, several versions of this book were shown prominently in the book store — there was this one, apparently the original and full version; there was an abbreviated children’s book (apparently not exactly an abbreviated version but another book revolving around the main character); there was a movie tie-in as soon as there was a movie, and these kind of books have a way of closing in on you until you give up and read them.
Technically, this is a children’s book. So I’m not supposed to read it. Or rather, I might be allowed to read it but I’m not allowed to enjoy it. I can see how it applies itself as a children’s book — chapters are very concise, rarely more than two pages long, fitting with today’s children’s attention span, and the story is told from perspectives that children can relate with. But, and this is an important point for successful children’s books, I enjoyed it immensely myself. It is a very well written, gripping and human story, which is told from various different perspectives and therefore is all the more complete.
The namesake of the book is actually named August Pullman. He has been born with deformities which prevent him from living in a world that openly points and stares and laughs. He has been home schooled up to a point his mother has decided she cannot continue to teach him herself, and therefore applies to a private New York school. Upon being accepted, he goes through the whole process of being the new kid in school, with the added anxiety of being very visibly different from the other kids.
As is required by books of this caliber, written for the particular audience it was written for, it is a story of triumph. You know it as soon as you start on the first page, even without reading the synopsis at the back. But it’s a triumph that is achieved through a journey that the author, R. J. Palacio (which is the pen name of Raquel Jaramillo), ushers us through in the most sensitive and humane of ways, and the end, by which Auggie is standing on the stage of the year end ceremony and gets his round of applause, a sensation that he claims everyone should experience, we the readers feel like we’ve taken an active part in carrying him there.
