Book Club Response

     How does society put pressure on the characters in our books?  Pressure put on the characters in our books caused them to have trouble with finding where they belong.  It causes them to make decisions that are not great, or make decisions they don't want to make.  The lesson that can be extracted from this question and statement is that you need to make decisions for yourself, for your needs, and these decisions can't be affected by the people around you.  There are many paths a person can take, and that is why there are books.  Books show you through real and fictional examples how you will be affected by your choices, and help us decide what to do.

     The book I read was Wonder, a book about a boy named August.  August's face is deformed, and has trouble with people accepting him because of how he looks.  He had been home-schooled all of his life and 5th grade is his first year in "real" school with other kids.  Jack is one out of two friends he is able to make in the beginning of the year, but on Halloween, he hears something different.  Jack says to Julian, a popular boy, that he isn't really friends with August.  He actually does want to be friends with August because he is so nice and fun, but he is scared that he will not have any other friends.  Pressure was put on him by popularity, and he broke under the weight.

     There are many other people in this book that are socially affected by August's appearance.  His sister, Via or Olivia, depending on who you are to her, is one of those people.  She has carried the "sister of a deformed kid" for so long, and this is her first year in highschool, and a chance to have a fresh slate.  Olivia doesn't tell anyone about her brother for a while because she wants to be known for herself, and have real friends, not just people who feel sorry for her.  Through out this book, I wondered what Auggie's parents were thinking, wondering if they thought he was normal, that they weren't emotionally affected by it.  The only person that you got to truly see and read about that doesn't care what August look like is Summer.  She first sits with him because she feels bad for him, but it blossoms into true friendship.  Honestly, I would have trouble with maintaining a friendship with Auggie, and in a way, I'm amazed that she can do it.