Wonder - Pages 294-315, The End

The graduation program includes three songs. One previously mentioned ("Light and Day"), one traditional song (Pachelbel's "Canon in D"), and one of my personal favorites ("Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie).

In his commencement speech, Mr. Tushman quotes three authors. I'm only including the first of the three quotes here, just in case one of them might give away something from the story. The first quote is from J. M. Barrie who wrote Peter Pan. The quote Mr. Tushman uses, however, is from the book The Little White Bird. Here is J. M. Barrie along with the quote from the original text.

Mr. Tushman's second quote is from Under the Eye of the Clock by Christopher Nolan. Christopher Nolan was born with cerebral palsy and could only move his head and eyes, yet he wrote award winning books and was first published at the age of fifteen. Here is a picture of him with his book.

Finally, Mr. Tushman quotes Henry Ward Beecher and describes him as a "nineteenth century abolitionist - and a fiery sermonizer for human rights." Their school is named after him. Here is a picture of him as a younger man, followed by an image of a statue of Beecher currently in downtown Brooklyn, New York.

These last images are reversed, but I thought the last one was the best way to end our read aloud. Auggie mentions a red carpet. A red carpet is traditionally used when important people arrive somewhere, like when a president arrives to visit another country. This is a picture of the president of Japan arriving in the United States.

Red carpets are also used for celebrities when they arrive at fancy events like award ceremonies and movie premiers. This is probably the sort of red carpet Auggie is referring to.

And finally ... well ... I'm not even going to introduce this one. I'll just say this: I hope you enjoyed the book, and I especially hope you enjoyed the ending.

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