Sharing the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio with students is certainly not a new idea…most of us have been sharing Wonder with anyone who would listen since the beginning of 2012!  Even so, there’s something so amazingly wonder-ful about this book and how it touches readers’ lives.  I will never tire of seeing and hearing the reactions of others to this story.
This is exactly the reason why I persuaded our 6th grade Reading teachers to begin the school year by using Wonder as a whole class read aloud. We had already “test-driven” the novel as a read aloud with one 6th grade class in the spring of 2012. I had the privilege of beginning the book with them and finishing up their experience with a Skype session with R.J. Palacio on our last day of school. The interest level, immersion, and reactions from the students was amazing to see…