Wonder (30 page)
Authors: R. J. Palacio
It was one of those great June days when the sky is completely blue and the sun is shining but it isn’t so hot that you wish you were on the beach instead. It was just the perfect day. Everyone was happy. I still felt like I was floating, the
Star Wars
hero music in my head.
I walked with Summer and Jack, and we just couldn’t stop cracking up. Everything made us laugh. We were in that giggly kind of mood where all someone has to do is look at you and you start laughing.
I heard Dad’s voice up ahead and looked up. He was telling everyone a funny story as they walked down Amesfort Avenue. The grown-ups were all laughing, too. It was like Mom always said: Dad could be a comedian.
I noticed Mom wasn’t walking with the group of grown-ups, so I looked behind me. She was hanging back a bit, smiling to herself like she was thinking of something sweet. She seemed happy.
I took a few steps back and surprised her by hugging her as she walked. She put her arm around me and gave me a squeeze.
“Thank you for making me go to school,” I said quietly.
She hugged me close and leaned down and kissed the top of my head.
“Thank
you
, Auggie,” she answered softly.
“For what?”
“For everything you’ve given us,” she said. “For coming into our lives. For being you.”
She bent down and whispered in my ear. “You really are a wonder, Auggie. You are a wonder.”
MR. BROWNE’S PRECEPTS
SEPTEMBER
When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind. —Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
OCTOBER
Your deeds are your monuments. —inscription on an Egyptian tomb
NOVEMBER
Have no friends not equal to yourself. —Confucius
DECEMBER
Audentes fortuna iuvat
. (Fortune favors the bold.) —Virgil
JANUARY
No man is an island, entire of itself. —John Donne
FEBRUARY
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. —James Thurber
MARCH
Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.
—Blaise Pascal
APRIL
What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.
—Sappho
MAY
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.
—John Wesley’s Rule
JUNE
Just follow the day and reach for the sun! —The Polyphonic Spree, “Light and Day”
POSTCARD PRECEPTS
CHARLOTTE CODY’S PRECEPT
It’s not enough to be friendly. You have to be a friend.
REID KINGSLEY’S PRECEPT
Save the oceans, save the world! —Me!
TRISTAN FIEDLEHOLTZEN’S PRECEPT
If you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet, they’re about to announce the lottery numbers! —Homer Simpson
SAVANNA WITTENBERG’S PRECEPT
Flowers are great, but love is better. —Justin Bieber
HENRY JOPLIN’S PRECEPT
Don’t be friends with jerks. —Henry Joplin
MAYA MARKOWITZ’S PRECEPT
All you need is love. —The Beatles
AMOS CONTI’S PRECEPT
Don’t try too hard to be cool. It always shows, and that’s uncool. —Amos Conti
XIMENA CHIN’S PRECEPT
To thine own self be true. —
Hamlet
, Shakespeare
JULIAN ALBANS’S PRECEPT
Sometimes it’s good to start over. —Julian Albans
SUMMER DAWSON’S PRECEPT
If you can get through middle school without hurting anyone’s feelings, that’s really cool beans. —Summer Dawson
JACK WILL’S PRECEPT
Keep calm and carry on! —some saying from World War II
AUGUST PULLMAN’S PRECEPT
Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all overcometh the world. —Auggie
I am grateful beyond measure to my amazing agent, Alyssa Eisner Henkin, for loving this manuscript even in its earliest drafts and being such a strong champion for Jill Aramor, R. J. Palacio, or whatever name I decided to call myself. Thanks to Joan Slattery, whose joyful enthusiasm brought me to Knopf. And most especially, thank you to Erin Clarke, editor extraordinaire, who made this book as good as it could be and for taking such good care of Auggie & Company: I knew we were all in good hands.
Thank you to the wonderful team who worked on
Wonder
. Iris Broudy, I am privileged to call you my copy editor. Kate Gartner and Tad Carpenter, thank you for the brilliant jacket. Long before I wrote this book, I was lucky to work side by side with copy editors, proofreaders, designers, production managers, marketing assistants, publicists, and all the men and women quietly toiling behind the curtain to make books happen—and I know it ain’t for the money! It’s for love. Thank you to the sales reps and the book buyers and the booksellers who are in an impossible but beautiful industry.
Thank you to my amazing sons, Caleb and Joseph, for all the joy you bring me, for understanding all those times when Mom needed to write, and for always choosing “kind.” You are my wonders.
And most of all, thank you to my incredible husband, Russell, for your inspiring insights, instincts, and unwavering support—not just for this project but for all of them over the years—and for being my first reader, my first love, my everything. Like Maria said, “Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have
done something good.” How else to explain this life we’ve built together? I am grateful every day.
Lastly, but not least, I would like to thank the little girl in front of the ice cream shop and all the other “Auggies,” whose stories have inspired me to write this book.
—R.J.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Gay and Loud Music: Excerpt from “The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side,” written by Stephin Merritt and performed by the Magnetic Fields, copyright © 1999 by Stephin Merritt. Published by Gay and Loud Music (ASCAP). All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Gay and Loud Music.
Indian Love Bride Music: Excerpt from “Wonder,” written by Natalie Merchant, copyright © 1995 by Natalie Merchant (ASCAP). All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Indian Love Bride Music.
Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC: Excerpt from “Beautiful,” written by Linda Perry and performed by Christina Aguilera, copyright © 2002 by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and Stuck in the Throat Music. All rights administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, 8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and Stuck in the Throat Music.
Talpa Music: Excerpt from “Beautiful Things,” written by Josh Gabriel, Mavie Marcos, and David Penner. Copyright © Published by Talpa Music. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Talpa Music.
TRO-Essex Music International, Inc.: Excerpt from “Space Oddity,” words and music by David Bowie, copyright © 1969, copyright renewed 1997 by Onward Music Ltd, London, England. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission of TRO-Essex Music International, Inc., New York.