2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories by R.J. Palacio, short stories from the Wonder series.


Pages: 303 pages


Length: 1 Month (June)


Participants: Alyana, Trisha, SarahKat.


Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Can I join?

Of course! Welcome Niharika

Thanks!

I'm reading this aloud to my son. We read Wonder together a few years ago. This author makes it very easy to read aloud. It's very natural and true-to-character. The short chapters help too because my son always says "maybe just one more."

Hello! I read Wonder a few months ago and I've seen the movie too. Excited to read this, I will be able to start this tomorrow :)

Hi guys! anyone have finished reading? :)

Not yet. It will probably take me the whole month since I'm reading it to my son. We've had family in town all week so we haven't made much progress. Planning on sharing some comments when we're done with the Julian story!

Julian: (view spoiler)[ Wow I hated his mother. That whole family just kept justifying their terrible attitude and actions. I get that Julian couldn't help getting his nightmares back but maybe they should have discussed it as family and gone to therapy instead of putting the blame on Auggie for looking like that, or Tushman for allowing him in the school.
I liked grandmere's story at the end. I'm glad Julian apologized to Auggie, but that there wasn't necessarily a big storybook friendship that came out of it. They can both just move forward with their lives and Julian (and his parents!) can make better decisions next time. (hide spoiler)]

SarahKat wrote: "Julian: (view spoiler)[Wow I hated his mother. That whole family just kept justifying their terrible attitude and actions. I get that Julian couldn't help getting his nightmares back but maybe they should have d..." (hide spoiler)]

Yes, (view spoiler)[ I really hate his parents! They just enabled Julian's bullying towards Auggie. I love Grandmere's story too and the good thing that came out of it is that Julian got his redemption at least. (hide spoiler)]

Pluto: (view spoiler)[ I didn't like this one as much as Julian because Christopher is sort of on the very periphery of Auggie's life, and he doesn't go to the same school so all the drama we know is going on there is absent in this book. It was interesting though to see how some of Christopher's new friends react to his friendship with Auggie. I like how they can still talk like old friends even though they've somewhat lost touch.
Christopher seems like a good friend. He definitely cares for Auggie and even John. Seems like he makes quick friends with people who might not otherwise have many friends. Perhaps his lifelong friendship with Auggie is what prompts him to befriend "misfits" later. (hide spoiler)]

SarahKat wrote: "Pluto: I didn't like this one as much as Julian because Christopher is sort of on the very periphery of Auggie's life, and he doesn't go to the same school so all the drama we know is going on the..."

Same feeling here. (view spoiler)[ I didn't like much Pluto but it's good to know how his friendship with Auggie was like. (hide spoiler)]
SarahKat, did your son like the book? :)

He is liking it! We have about 50 pages left and I don't think he likes this last story as much because it's about a girl and girls are of course from a whole different planet at his age. But he had some things in common with the boys. He knew some of the songs, the games, the movies, etc. He's always pretty excited when things come up in books worlds that he knows about. It's also really easy for him to follow and he'll start shaking his head and yelling at the book while I'm reading when characters are making bad choices haha! He's invested.

Shingaling/Book: (view spoiler)[ Great story to end on! I think we liked the Julian chapter the best since it was so integrated with the original Wonder story. I did like seeing Charlotte's POV too as she is at the school but on the outside of the Auggie stuff a little bit. I really liked her friendship with Ximena and Summer and how they sort of transcended the "cliques" they were all in (hide spoiler)]

SarahKat wrote: "He is liking it! We have about 50 pages left and I don't think he likes this last story as much because it's about a girl and girls are of course from a whole different planet at his age. But he ha..."

I'm glad that he liked it! :D

SarahKat wrote: "Shingaling/Book: [spoilers removed]"

The Julian chapter is the best of the three. :)