a WONDERful book

I love recommendations from fellow librarians.  As people who spend our entire lives surrounded by books, it is sometimes hard to tell the good from the bad and the good from the great.  Every one has a different taste in books, but for the most part, a great book is a great book to everyone.

Enter, Wonder, the first novel by JR Palacio.

Filled with references to other wonderful contemporary novels, kindness, and triumph over bullying, this novel is quite the 'great book'.  Auggie (August) Pullman is the recipient of a combination of genetic mutations and disorders that leave his face 'deformed'.  He has lived with it all his life and lived with the stares and shocked faces that greet him everywhere he goes.  After being homeschooled most of his life, Auggie's parents decide that he should start the 5th grade in a real school. 

Much like the book Schooled by Gordon Korman, another of my very favorite books, I found myself appalled at the treatment of Auggie when he gets to school.  Perhaps I just have blocked most of my middle school experience from my memory bank, or perhaps I simply still suffer from only seeing what I want to see, but  I just don't remember my experience that way.

Don't get me wrong - I totally remember high school like that.  I just don't remember middle school kids being that mean (especially in fifth grade).  Either way, both books help us understand that although some kids grow up differently than we do or look/act different, they are still kids, they still have feelings, and they still just want to find their place in the world.

Sometimes the narrator of an audiobook can make or break the way we feel about a novel.  It was definitely the narrator of Shakespeare's Secret who facilitated my love of that book.  In the exact opposite way, I actually had to turn off the audiobook of Wonder after only ten minutes; knowing that if I left it on, I would end up hating the book.  I ended up reading the book and loving it.  It didn't take long, as it is a fast read, and I found myself wanting to know what would happen to Auggie and his friends.

I would recommend this book to all children entering middle school as a way to teach compassion and understanding of those different than we are.  In an environment where everyone is trying to find their place, it might go a long way to understand that everyone is trying to do the same thing.

On Being Special

As I have mentioned before, I come from a family that includes children with special needs. I have a severely autistic cousin who, although he can communicate through the very few words he uses, barely speaks at all. At family parties, I sometimes look over at him and wonder what he is thinking. I realize that this particular communication issue is probably more emotional for me because of my familiar connection, but I think anyone who has ever interacted with a special needs child would find the book Out of My Mind interesting.

Melody, a wheel-chair bound child diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, can't speak. It isn't that she doesn't have the brain function to speak, it is that her muscles can't move her lips, mouth, and jaw enough to form sounds and words. That doesn't stop her synesthetic and photographic brain from absorbing everything she encounters.

With the help of a computer that she can type into she finally can speak for herself and people begin to realize just how smart she is. The trouble is convincing people to take her seriously and include her, especially for the things that make her 'special'.

I am not sure if it is the fact that I wonder what my cousin would say if he could or the fact that the book is written from Melody's point of view, giving us the insight to understand her frustration, but the book is so well written that I couldn't put it down. Even now, months after I read the book, I sit and wonder how much of what Melody was thinking is what my cousin thinks. Each time I consider this, I tear up.

This is a wonderful book, one which I encourage all people to read. Much like how The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime allowed people to understand the world through the mind of someone who has Autism, this book allows people to experience the life of someone trapped by the limitations of their body. I think it could go a long way to bringing understanding to those who encounter people of all ages with special needs in their daily lives.

That Thing About Georgie

While I do read quite a bit, both for pleasure and work, I rarely come across a book that moves me quite like The Thing About Georgie. Today, while recommending another great Lisa Graff novel, Umbrella Summer, and walking the child to the shelf, I noticed The Thing About Georgie sitting next to it. I quickly added the book to the girl's growing pile of reading material, explained how the book was about a dwarf boy and how he learns to fit in with his class, and then grabbed her shoulders and said - don't skip to the end! With tears in my eyes, I walked back to the reference desk. In the instant it took me to sit down, I was taken back a few weeks to when I finished the book.

It isn't every day that I allow myself to finish a book in bed, but it happens. As someone who suffers greatly from 'stuffy noses' at night, I try not to cry too much before bed... but I guess I just didn't see this one coming.

The book was interesting from the beginning, each chapter starting off with a fact about what Georgie can or can't do just like a 'normal' child... such as:

Put your hands in fists... now try to tie your shoes. You can't? Well Georgie can't either.
- or -
Take a tape measure and mark a wall at 42" tall. Look at the items around your room that are taller than 42". Those are the things that Georgie wouldn't be able to reach.

In a polite way, the author of these tidbits of information makes understanding the plight of the dwarf a little more realistic. The rest of the story chronicles the every day events in Georgie's life through the school year, including a falling out with his best friend, the pregnancy of his mother, the impending arrival of his new baby brother or sister, and the torment of having to deal with the meanest girl in the 4th grade.

It isn't until the end that you figure out the author of the aforementioned handwritten information. As it turns out, one of Georgie's classmates has checked out the only book in the school library on what it is like to live as a dwarf, and is writing these bits of information as he or she learns them. As someone who comes from a family that includes children with special needs, it was 1) absolutely heartbreaking to read the story from Georgie's point of view... knowing that the way he feels about being different may be the way my family members feel, and 2) absolutely heartwarming to observe the humanity in those interacting with Georgie. Have you ever had your heart broken and warmed at the same time? It actually physically hurts.

I have to say, sometimes I cry through an entire book, but most times I just tear up a little at the end.... I sobbed through the end of this book, and then woke my husband up so that I could tell him about it. Most times, when telling a real-life story to a friend, I will say 'and then my husband asked me what was wrong', but in the middle of the night, I am not even sure I wait for him to ask - I just simply start to tell him.

A lot of what I read would be considered books for children, but though they are meant for children, I find them more satisfying than any adult title I have picked up (with the exception of Pride and Prejudice). There is something so innocent and gentle about the way they approach every day issues, and for the most part they tend to teach the reader how to deal with a problem in a way that is less than preachy. The thing about Georgie is.... he teaches children to accept life's problems, and that even if you have dug yourself into a hole, a friend's hand is all it takes to help you find the way back out.