Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Wonder - Pages 81-117

Via says, "August is the Sun. Me and Mom and Dad are planets orbiting the sun. The rest of our family and friends are asteroids and comets floating around the planets orbiting the sun." What does she mean? Why is Auggie the one in the middle? Why is everyone else moving around him?


In the last section, Auggie said he sometimes hears people call him E. T. Now Via confirms it. She says that she and her friends used to dress Auggie up in feather boas and big hats and a Hannah Montana wig. There's a scene in the movie where E. T. gets dressed up by a little girl, and Via says Auggie is a dead ringer for E. T. in that scene.


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Auggie?

Out of the three friends - Via, Ella, and Miranda - Miranda was always the sweetest to Auggie. She included him in the things they were doing or she would talk to him about stuff he liked, things like Bone or Avatar or Star Wars. We'll skip the Star Wars image, but here is an image of Bone and Avatar.

 



I Googled crafts stores in Soho, a neighborhood in Manhattan, where Auggie picked out the beads for his Padawan braid. I've never been there before [update: I was there in August, 2015, but alas, did not go to any crafts stores.), but from what I could find, this might be a good example of what the store and the neighborhood are like. (And if anyone who has visited or lives in Manhattan and can give me a better example, that would be great.)


Via is reading War and Peace, a classic novel written by Leo Tolstoy in 1869. To some people, it is best known for its size. According to Wikipedia, it is the seventeenth longest novel ever written. (And I am assigning it to all fifth and sixth graders over spring break.)


And lucky for you, it's available online: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

When Via says she wants to take the subway home, her mom asks if she even has a MetroCard. A MetroCard looks like a credit card but it is used to pay tolls on the subway in New York City. Passengers run their MetroCard through a card reader to make a payment.


Via tells how she looked at all kinds of pictures of here relatives from both sides of her family to see if anyone, anywhere ever looked anything like Auggie. She says her Dad's side of the family comes from Russia and Poland and her Mom's side of the family is from Brazil. 




Doctors say August has a "previously unknown type of mandibulofacial dysostosis caused by an autosomal recessive mutation in the TCOF1 gene, which is located on chromosome 5, complicated by a hemifacial microsomia characteristic of OAV spectum." That is waaaay too complicated for me. However, Via explains that Punnett Squares are used by doctors to show the chances that a child will have a certain characteristic. This is much easier to show. Here's a simple example.


And finally, on Halloween Via and her mom were going to sit down and watch The Ghost and Mrs. Muir together, one of their all-time favorite black-and-white movies. Does this look like one of the greatest black-and-white movies of all time? Here's the trailer, you decide:



Continue to Part Three: Summer

47 comments:

  1. Awesome resource! Thank you so much!

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  2. It seems some of your research is being removed :(

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  3. Thanks for letting me know. I'll fix what needs fixing.

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  4. This would've been great if you included the last part of Part Two: Via

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  5. I need to know what is the metaphor about why is Aggie in the middle?

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    1. Via pretty much explains it in the quote at the top of the page, doesn't she? Auggie is the sun. Everyone else are the planets and things going around the sun. What is the center? What causes everything or everyone else's movements?

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  6. why is this metaphor so effective?



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    1. That's a great question. Sounds like a teacher asked it. To answer, here are more questions: What is the most important thing in our solar system? Why? How does that compare the Auggie and his family? Look at what Via said, quoted above.

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  7. What valuable lessons does Via teach us?
    Please reply

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    1. Sounds like homework, so I can't respond directly, but here are some things I would think about in my response.

      Via believes that Auggie is the sun and everyone else are planets revolving around the sun. How might that make her feel? How might a kid feel if his/her brother or sister gets all the attention - for whatever reason? How might Via feel when her mom or dad drops whatever they are doing for Auggie but never for her? Think about the day she and her mom were planning to have on Halloween and how special it would have been for her. Now think about why it didn't happen. How does that make Via feel? Why?

      I also think there is an important lesson in Via's decision to never have children. That's a pretty big decision for a 15-year-old to make. Why does she say that? It has to do with the Punnett Squares.

      Hope that helps. Good luck!

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  8. Because her kids will have a greater chance of looking like August than Via did.

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  9. I like the book wonder.

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  10. I'm 10 yrs old & homeschooled. My mom and I read wonder together and It's a really good book. We love to see all the connections you have made with the book and they are all so fun to see! This is a great website.

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    1. Thanks, Hannah. I'm glad you like the book and the website. Have you finished the book yet? Have you read the other Wonder books - 365 Days of Wonder, The Julian Chapter, Pluto, and Shingaling? If you liked Wonder and haven't read them yet, I'm sure you will want to read them. Let me know how it goes!

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  11. thanks bro (plz reply)

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  12. ayy wazzup

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  13. Hi Mr. W. My name is Mrs. Logsdon and my resource SpEd class is reading "Wonder" right now. Just saying thanks for the awesome visuals and wanted you to know they are still being used in classes. My middle school students who pretend to never like anything are really into this book.

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    1. Mrs. Logsdon, thanks for taking the time to share kind words. It means a lot knowing that these resources are helpful to so many other people.

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  14. I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE PART WHERE GRANS TELLS VIA SHES HER FAVORITE!!!

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  15. Somone who has a question3/14/19, 12:23 PM

    Why did you put the picture of Avatar the last air bender in there?

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    1. That is one of the things Miranda watched with Auggie and one of they ways their relationship grew so strong.

      When the book first came out, I didn't know if Avatar referred to The Last Airbender or the movie about the Na'vi on Pandora. I send a message to author R. J. Palacio on Twitter asking which Avatar it was. She said it was The Last Airbender, so I included that image in case anyone wondered the same thing as me.

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  16. Someone without a question3/14/19, 5:47 PM

    Great, Thanks!

    And I think that it's funny that you visited August's hometown...in August!

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  17. Someone who has a question...again3/14/19, 5:52 PM

    And, which page says Avatar the last airbender?

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    1. It's at the beginning of the chapter called Major Tom on page 93.

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  18. Hi there! I am a teacher of English Learners and I just wanted to thank you for this wonderful resource! I read Wonder with my ELLs the past two years and wish I had it seen it sooner. (Just found it this year.) Thank you for all of your hard work putting it together.

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  19. Why don't you have the part about War And Peace?

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    1. I did, but it looks like the link is broken. I'll get it fixed.

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    2. Everything on this page should be fixed including the missing image of War and Peace as well as Hannah Montana.

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  20. Hi, im a seventh grader and im reading this book for my class, im really enjoying it so far. Thank you for the resources!!!

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  21. Awesome resource! Thank you so much!

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  22. My mom remembered this song from when she was a kid. We talked about the book, "Wonder," and how the main character is beautiful on the inside and how we need to remember to not judge by looks, but by the person and who they are.

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  23. THIS BOOK IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOD BRUHH LOL XD MAN YAAAAAA

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  24. THIS BOOK IS THE BESTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT LOL LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOOOOLLL XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

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  25. This Book Is Awesome

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  26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMMxGKu6Uyk

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    1. Thanks for sharing this. This shows The Ghost and Mrs. Muir TV show from the 1960s that was based on the movie. It's interesting to see, but remember that Via and her mom plan to watch the original black and white movie.

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  27. tysm for the website

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