First published 2012
August Pullman knows what people see when they look at him. Born with a facial difference, he has been homeschooled his whole life. Now his parents want him to start fifth grade at Beecher Prep, a mainstream school where he will face classmates for the first time. Auggie wants the same thing any ten-year-old wants: to fit in and be treated like everyone else. But his new classmates struggle to see past his appearance. The story expands beyond Auggie's perspective to include the voices of his classmates, his older sister Via, and others in his orbit. Each character wrestles with how difference challenges their assumptions about friendship, family, and what it means to be kind. At its heart, this is a story about a boy learning to navigate a world that isn't always ready for him, and a community learning to see beyond the surface.
Genres: fiction, family-life, contemporary, young-adult
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Beecher Prep
Period: 21st-century
315 pages · Hardcover · Alfred A. Knopf