MAY 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Kivilighan de Montebello's bright, sparkling voice adds charm to Palacio's recent picture book adaption of the critically acclaimed middle-grade novel WONDER—which sparked the “Choose Kind” anti-bullying movement. This spin-off, aimed at younger listeners, features the voice of the beloved and unforgettable character Auggie, whose life is fraught with difficulty and loneliness due a facial deformity. The story is short on plot and character background, so listeners not familiar with the original may be confused by Auggie's daily difficulties. But the message of self-acceptance and the wonder of hope are certain to resonate with younger listeners, nonetheless. D.S. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
01/23/2017
Dispensing with the plot and multicharacter perspective of her much-lauded middle grade novel, Wonder (which also inspired the “Choose Kind” antibullying movement), Palacio focuses this picture book spin-off on the reflections of her hero and narrator, Auggie. “I just don’t look ordinary,” he says, and while what makes him so isn’t specified, readers can see the difference between his single-eyed, featureless face (based on Tad Carpenter’s cover illustration for the original novel) and Palacio’s drawings of other kids. The love of Auggie’s mother (“She says I’m a wonder!”), the companionship of his dog, Daisy, and his pretend play as an astronaut all help the boy momentarily escape the taunts of his peers. But he also holds out the hope, which the penultimate spread seems to affirm, that “people can change the way they see” and learn to appreciate the sentiment expressed in the title. Younger children need to hear Palacio’s important message, but the wistful nostrums and flat, decorative cartooning don’t fully do justice to her novel. Ages 4–8. Agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media Group. (Mar.)
MAY 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Kivilighan de Montebello's bright, sparkling voice adds charm to Palacio's recent picture book adaption of the critically acclaimed middle-grade novel WONDER—which sparked the “Choose Kind” anti-bullying movement. This spin-off, aimed at younger listeners, features the voice of the beloved and unforgettable character Auggie, whose life is fraught with difficulty and loneliness due a facial deformity. The story is short on plot and character background, so listeners not familiar with the original may be confused by Auggie's daily difficulties. But the message of self-acceptance and the wonder of hope are certain to resonate with younger listeners, nonetheless. D.S. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2017-01-17
Auggie, from the bestselling novel Wonder (2012), returns as a picture-book protagonist.Though Auggie tries to do the normal things other kids do—ride a bike, eat ice cream, play ball—he doesn't look like other kids. Though it takes knowledge of previous installments in the Wonder series to understand that Auggie has serious facial deformities and has had many corrective surgeries, it is clear what Auggie endures from other kids: "Sometimes they stare at me. They point or laugh. They even say mean things behind my back. But I can hear them." His mother tells him he's a wonder; in fact, "we're all wonders," Auggie informs readers. But with no characterization and little in the text beyond inspirational messages, it's not clear what makes Auggie a wonder; he wants to be taken as he is, but readers—unless they have read the other volumes—never come to know him. Borrowing the now-iconic stylized image of a nearly featureless, one-eyed, white Auggie from the original hardcover edition and employing colorful, digitally rendered art, this edition pulls the heartwarming spirit from Wonder but little of the substance. Auggie's first-person point of view is too narrow to allow for the range of voices that made the novel so rich. Palacio has perhaps mined the same material once too often. A feel-good volume lacking the wonder of Wonder. (Picture book. 5-8)
