Audience: Grades 4-6
My Rating: 3.5* of 5
Summary: Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.
Comments: Given the buzz surrounding this title, my expectations were high. They were met, though just barely. Palacio smartly varies narrators throughout the book, ensuring that the reader does not tire of Auggie's inevitable self-centeredness. I could have done without the dog plot line, which these days seems an out-dated literary crutch. All told it was an empathetic slice of a different sort of life.
Read-alikes: Out of My Mind by Draper.
Awards: Texas Lone Star list 2013, Texas Bluebonnet list 2013.
Comments: Given the buzz surrounding this title, my expectations were high. They were met, though just barely. Palacio smartly varies narrators throughout the book, ensuring that the reader does not tire of Auggie's inevitable self-centeredness. I could have done without the dog plot line, which these days seems an out-dated literary crutch. All told it was an empathetic slice of a different sort of life.
Read-alikes: Out of My Mind by Draper.
Awards: Texas Lone Star list 2013, Texas Bluebonnet list 2013.
