Wonder's set to be a box-office smash but should it be shown in every school, too?
'When given the choice of being right or being kind, choose kind' ❤️
When the book Wonder was released in 2012, it became a New York Times bestseller. Now, the screen version's out and it's been quite the talk of Hollywood.
The book was written by mum Raquel Jaramillo, under the guise of R J Palacio, following an encounter she had in an ice-cream shop with her 3-year-old son.
They saw a little girl with facial birth defects, and, not knowing how to deal with the situation and worried that her son would react badly, Raquel took her son away – which, she says, made things a whole lot worse.
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What followed was the book, and now the film, Wonder, which tells the story of little Auggie, who has been home-schooled partly due to the fact he has severe facial differences – and his family are worried about how he'll get on once he starts mainstream school.
In the movie, we see the trials and tribulations of his experiences of school life: the bullying and the friendships, as well as how Auggie's differences have affected his family – in particular his sister Via (the film is split into different perspectives).
It's not an easy watch (our mum reviewer says she was on the brink of tears throughout the whole thing) but it's an important one: with the key message, to 'choose kind', ringing out at every turn.
Yes, Auggie looks different but he's funny, kind and cool. And, while he stands out a lot, plenty of us mums probably have a story about our little one getting laughed at or talked about for being just a bit different, too.
For one of our mums, it was the the fact her 6-year-old daughter was pointed out for having a monobrow.
The film's been rated PG: though it's quite long (just over 2 hours), so might better for ages 9 to 10 and up, rather than much younger kids.
But the message is so worthwhile, and we think it would be amazing if schools considered showing it.
Don't just take it from us, though: the book has some beautiful quotes in, and perhaps this is the one we like the best:
“If every person in this room made it a rule that, wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary, the world really would be a better place."
So, so true ❤️
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Authors
Tara is mum to 1 daughter, Bodhi Rae, and has worked as Content Editor and Social Media Producer at MadeForMums since 2015
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