Title: Wonder

Author: R.J. Palacio

Themes: Self-Esteem, Anxiety, Social Skills, Bullying, Individuation, Developing Perspective, Developing Empathy, Validation, DBT, Friendship

Age Recommendation: Junior High through High School

Wonder is a poignant story in it's own right, but has particular value as a bibliotherapy resource for generating discussions about individuation and perspective. Wonder tells the story of August, an intelligent young man with physical disabilities who is enrolling in school for the first time as a junior high student. By inviting readers to view discrete events through the varying perspectives of August, his family members, teachers, and peers, the author reinforces an assertion of DBT, namely, that many truths about any situation can exist at once. 

One of August's teachers challenges his students to develop and follow personal precepts that will guide their decisions and attitudes. If you are using this book in a clinical or educational setting, one fun activity is to help your clients/students author their own precepts. Start with a values clarification exercise (there are many free versions online) and guide your clients/students in connecting the dots between their values and the precepts they author. 

Another useful intervention to use with this book is to have clients choose one character in the book that they relate to and list five strengths and five challenges that the character has; then have your client describe how the character uses their strengths to overcome their challenges. Once they have completed this activity, have your client list five of their own strengths and challenges; then help your client choose one challenge they would like to work on and support them in developing strategies for moderating that challenge by accessing their strengths. Many clients enjoy creating a visual component to go with this exercise, such as a Power Point presentation or even just a simple chart, so they can share their ideas and progress with others. This project is harder than it sounds but is very rewarding for kids, so, if necessary, break the task into smaller portions and spend just part of a series of sessions working on it. 

I can't resist adding my favorite quote from this book: "In the future you make for yourselves, anything is possible. If every single 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. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God" (p. 301).