Wonder by RJ Palacio

Teachers often ask for books that others recommend to read to children in their classes.  One book that has often been favourably recommended over the last year was RJ Palacio's novel Wonder.  Teachers spoke of it being written from a the point of view of the central character, as well as other children in his life.  They also spoke of the content being very valuable for children.

Currently I am a relief teacher, and one class I was in recently was having this book read to them.  I certainly wasn't going to spoil it for the teacher by reading it to the class, but while the class did their silent reading I started dipping into this book (good teachers model the behaviours of reading).  I enjoyed the first 50 pages so much that the next time I was in town I searched the book out in the Paper Plus I was in and purchased my own copy to read.

So hear is the front cover, and the ever so brief blurb:

The book is written mostly from the point of view of a boy called August Pullman.  August is 10 years old.  He has never been to school because he was born with a serious cleft pallet issue as well as another facio cranial issue.  As a result, August was home schooled due to medical issues, numerous surgeries and to protect him from the reactions of others.  However, at age 10, his parents decide it is time that August start school, in 5th grade, the beginning of Middle School.

Beecher Prep's Middle School Director, Mr Tushman, arranges for three students to give August a tour around the school during the summer break and so August will know three students on his first day of school.  The reactions of these students vary, but August is used to reactions to his appearance and tries to put on a good front to these fellow students, the staff and his family.

The book covers the journey August has during his fifth grade year.  It covers how he forms relationships with other students, deals with rejection, bullying, ignorance and fear - some of it from parents of other children. 

Occasionally the point of view switches.  His older sister Via, his friends Summer and Jack, and his sister's friends Justin and Miranda talk about their own journeys and their journey with August during this time, as they also face the challenges of forming new relationships, rejection, bullying, ignorance and fear.

I think this would be a brilliant book for instigating discussion with students, or your own children, on people who are different due to an accident or by birth in appearance.  It would be a great read to for a class, but I would then make it available to students afterwards to read at their own leisure because I think a 10 year old child and up would be able to handle this book as an independent reader.

Vicious Circle by Wilbur Smith

I love reading Wilbur Smith books.  They are an indulgence into a worlds and places I am never likely to go.  He has a superb knack of describing the environment and transporting you there, and can write some raunchy scenes with heroes who are manly yet romantic the next.  I love getting his books in hardback too because it is so much more of a decadent read too.  So often these are the books I give my Dad for Christmas, to spoil him.  It helps that our reading tastes often cross over for my benefit.

Vicious Circle is the second book in what I assume will at least be a trilogy.  The book this follows on from is called Those in Peril, and I have not read that, so I guess I will need to track it down.  The third book, Predator, is being released now in 2016.

Below is the cover and the blurb.

As you can tell from the blurb, this is a rollicking adventure.  It is violent and, at times, vile to read, but with moments of desolation, tenderness and adoration.

Hector is devastated by the loss of his wife Hazel, and soon realises that his baby daughter Catherine is at continued sustained risk from an enemy that just won't quit.  He has to secure her safety first, and turns to those he trusts the most to secure that safety, before he and his team work to identify who is targeting him and his daughter.

Along the way a family secret from Hazel's first late husband's past is found to be the catalyst to this violence and explains the, until then, background to the actions in Those in Peril.  And I am picking that because you know that there is a third book, that the threat is not totally annihilated at the end of Vicious Circle.

There is an aspect of 'as if' as you read parts of this book, but that is the decadence of reading such a book.  And it is why I keep reading Wilbur Smith books because I am transported to a world that is definitely not mine.