Good morning teachers and fellow schoolmates.

Today I am going to present a book called

-Wonder
To begin with I would like to ask u all some questions. Have you ever been bullied in school?
Have you ever bullied others? Imagine, you are being ostracized every day in school, what
will you feel? Indeed, this thing really happens very often. The book Wonder is a tale of a 10-
year old boy called August (Auggie) who lives in New York. Born with severe facial
deformities, August has had 27 surgeries since he was born to make him able to see, hear ,
etc. Despite these surgeries, August’s face still looks horrible, as a result , many people stay
from him. This makes August feel extremely unhappy and frustrated, and all
he wants is to have an ordinary face. As the story progresses, it explores the challenges that
August has encountered when he first entered school, for example, he has been ostracized and
even bullied by his classmates. It has shown a realistic look at the frankly brutal reality.

The book is exquisitely written and it soon gets the readers involved. Part of the book is
heart-wrenching to read because the difficulties that August faces are really daunting.
However, the book is also laden with humour and hope, which makes it an uplifting read. It
has described a person with an unlucky and rare syndrome, who we love not out of sympathy
but because he has overcome his deformities and let people see the goodness in him. The
book offers illuminating insight into what love and goodness really means. No wonder the
book is such a bestseller.

In my following presentation I am going to first focus on what I appreciate about the writer,
then which character impressed me the most

R. J. Palacio tells the story from alternating viewpoints which means this book is written in
different perspectives, from August the main character to the friends of his and I am really
impressed by the author’s masterful portrait of the characters. Besides, I find this really
intriguing because I’ve never read a story that is told in this way.
The story begins from August’s point of view, and then switches to include his classmates,
his sister, her boyfriend and others. I find this a little confusing at the beginning, but then I
realize that the writer is trying to give us different angles from different narrators. In other
words, we are seeing things not just from August’s perspective, but also from the eyes of
other narrators. This way, we can have a glimpse of each of the character’s struggles and
views and makes me feel very excited all the way along I finish this book.
For example, I get to understand Olivia’s difficulties when she narrates the story. I find out
that Olivia suffers a lot too, as she has to make a lot of sacrifices for August and she is often
overlooked by her parents.
Another advantage of using different viewpoints is that each narrator can fill in details about
facets of August’s life. Via, for instance, reveals a great deal about the Pullman family culture
and home life, whereas Summer and Jack give us details about life at school.
Also, telling the story from different characters helps to create tension and conflict, and
makes me want to read on and find out how these conflicts can be resolved.
Overall, these perspectives help us understand the community’s struggle with empathy,
compassion and acceptance.
Now, I’d like to talk about the character impressed me the most (who I think changes the
most from the beginning to the end of the story.)
I personally think Jack is the one impressed me the most as undergoes the biggest change in
the story.
At the beginning of the story, Jack does not really want to be August’s friend because of his
deformed face. He only agrees to do so because the Principal asks him to. Actually, he’s
reluctant to be August’s friend because for him, August’s face is too just hideous. He
pretends to be nice to August in class, but he makes no real attempt to help August or
understand his needs. Indeed, he unwittingly says something which hurts August deeply
during the Halloween party. He says if he had a face like August he’d rather die, not knowing
that August is actually next to him.
However, Jack soon realises his mistake when August tries to avoid him. When Julian, a
classmate, who has been bullying August, teases mercilessly about August’s appearance, Jack
punches Julian, regardless of the consequences. Jack and August make up and become good
friends again. Jack begins to look beyond August’s physical appearance and discovers his
beautiful inner personality. He accepts August for who he is and disregards the nasty taunts
from other students. Jack even tries to fight off the seventh graders who are trying to hurt
August. At the end of the story, Jack finally realises what it means to become a real friend.
He also learns that he should judge someone by physical appearance alone, but by looking at
the inner personality.
This book does not only tell me what a good friend should really be, but also taught me to be
perseverance. There are a lot of challenges in our life, for me, one of the challenges is my
eczema, just like August’s deformities. Through reading how August overcome his
challenges, it has also gave me an illuminating insight into the way to be perseverance and
not to give up.
This book is mesmerizing and it successfully pulls at the heartstrings of the readers. It has
shown how friends and family get along and how people can overcome adversity. It also
shows the power of love and kindness. It is such an amazing work that I cannot wait for a
sequel.