R.J. Palacio's 'Wonder' is an important lesson in the power of kindness
The first thing you'll notice about author R.J. Palacio is her incredible optimism.
Even while talking about school bullying, the author refuses to believe that children are inherently mean.
“I feel like kids really do want to do good, they want to be their best selves, and sometimes they don’t know how to do that. There’s never a kid who’s irredeemable,” she says.
That's a major theme of Palacio's best-selling book Wonder, which was recently adapted into a movie staring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson.
The novel for young readers follows a year in the life of Auggie Pullman, a 10-year-old boy who is starting the 5th grade. Auggie was born with facial differences resulting in numerous surgeries, which have kept him homeschooled and away from his peers until now. Now, entering school for the first time, Auggie and his community must find the courage to accept each other, despite their differences.
In addition to outlining Auggie's journey, Wonder is a moving treatise on the power of extreme kindness in the face of unthinkable adversity.
"When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind," Palacio writes.
This week on The MashReads Podcast, we talk to R.J. Palacio about her novel Wonder and kindness.
Wonder
R.J. Palacio
Interview Highlights
(Interview edited for length and clarity. For the full interview, listen to the MashReads Podcast episode above.)
What inspired this story? I heard that it was based off a true encounter.
About 10 years ago, I was with my two sons outside of an ice cream store, and we found ourselves sitting in very close proximity to a little girl who had very significant craniofacial differences. My little son got a little frightened and started to cry, and in my haste, I whisked him away to avoid her seeing him react to her face. Afterward, I regretted it because I missed this opportunity to turn this situation into a teaching moment for my son. That’s what prompted my thinking of what it must be like to face a world every day that doesn’t quite know how to face you back.
A lot of people have cried while reading this book and will cry watching this movie. Did you make yourself cry [while writing]?
I did! Because I had a 9-to-5 job and two children, the only time I could find to write was in the middle of the night, from midnight to 3 in the morning, because it was the only quiet time. I would find myself at 2 in the morning sobbing over my little keyboard.
There is a word I heard a lot while talking about this book, which is “heart.” That's a hard thing to approach, especially when you're talking about kids in 5th grade, where people imagine they can be cruel. How do you write about this age group with so much heart and empathy?
The narrative we’ve come to expect and accept about middle schoolers being mean and middle schoolers being cruel and all of that is one that don’t subscribe to. While kids can be mean, I’ve also experienced tremendous nobility. What I’ve seen in children is they reach out to support each other when they’re down. Kids have an innate nobility that needs to be urged on a little bit and inspired.
Then, as always, we close the show with recommendations:
R.J. recommends City of Thieves by David Benioff. “It was such a great read, it was a perfect airplane read, it was really a lot of fun.” She also recommends the Wonder movie, of course.
MJ recommends Caity Weaver’s GQ profile of Gal Gadot “The Gal Gadot Next Door.” “It’s phenomenal. Once again [Caity Weaver’s] just flexing her writing muscles and showing off.”
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Topics Books
