Wonder

I know I already blogged about this book.  It is one I suggested as a great read for upper elementary students.  That was before I read it.  I had heard such great things about it, I knew I had to share it with others.  Well, now I have read it and I must say...EVERYONE needs to read it.  I finished it on the beach in Miami, Florida last week. Here I was on this beautiful beach with the ocean stretching before me with my husband at my side. We were both reading. As I finished the book, he looked over and said, "What is wrong with you?"  I had tears streaming down my face. They really were happy tears. The book just makes you feel so blessed and ready to take on the world. Let me give you some examples...

The main character has a facial deformity which prevented him from attending school until he was in fifth grade. Now, you know what fifth graders CAN be like. The story is about how he tries to convince his classmates he is just like them. That's the summary of the story, but there's more...

One of the teachers Auggie, the main character,  has gives the students a precept for the month.  Here are a few:

• When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind. --Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
• Have no friends not equal to yourself--Confusius
• It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers---James Thurber

At the end of the year, that teacher challenges the students to write their own precept and send it to him during the summer.  Here are a few of theirs:

• Don't be friends with jerks.---Henry Joplin
• To thine own self be true.--Hamlet, Shakespeare
• If you can get through middle school without hurting anyone's feelings, that's really cool beans.---Summer Dawson, a student in the class

AND now for Auggie's:  Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all over cometh the world.---Auggie

Need I say more?????   Happy Reading!