Book of the Week: Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories, by R.J. Palacio

Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories, R.J. Palacio
Realistic fiction/Short stories

Students often ask me when there will be a sequel to Wonder, which told the story of Auggie Pullman, an ordinary kid who looks very different, and struggles to fit in at his new school. Well, the answer is: there won’t be a sequel. What the author has done, though, is write this book, which features three novellas – long short stories, ranging from 40 to 100 pages long – about three characters from the original book: Julian, the bully; Christopher, Auggie’s childhood friend; and Charlotte, the girl on Auggie’s “Welcome Committee” at Beecher Prep. These stories are told from their perspectives, and take place at different times.

To me, Julian’s story was the most interesting: we don’t usually see the perspective of a bully. Julian is definitely the bad guy of Wonder, but this book made me see what happened from his point of view. It still isn’t pretty – Julian really was horrible to Auggie – but it’s interesting to see how his family and history led him to those choices. We also get to see Julian grow and change as a result of what happened with Auggie at Beecher Prep.

If you can’t get enough Wonder, this book will give you another glimpse – or three – into that world.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *