Wonder

A friend of mine passed on a book to us recently, a book called Wonder.  It chronicles a year in the life of a fifth grade boy, born with a facial deformity and starting school after being home schooled his whole life.

I picked up the book one afternoon because I had nothing to read.  I finished it in one sitting because I simply couldn't put it down. I laughed.  I cried.  I cried some more.  At its heart, the book is about kindness, about the differences a little kindness and acceptance can make, even as a child.  I loved it.

I passed it on to Aidan.  He read it in two days.  We discussed it as he read it and those discussions were, for me, the highlight of the whole book.  He loved it as much as I did.  We decided to ask his teacher if we could donate a copy to her class.  We also bought an extra copy to donate to his school's library.

I also recommended it to friends and their friends' children.  And now, not only are my friends reading it with their children, but Aidan's class is reading it together and his school librarian just confessed to crying over it a few nights ago.  Aidan's teacher also recommended it to the school's religion teacher.

I love the difference a well-told story can make in people's lives.

I am now reading it with Brennan and Griffin.  We read a few chapters each night, snuggled up together in bed.  It has become a highlight of my day, to share this story with them.  A few nights ago, we got to a particularly sad part of the book.  I stopped reading because I was overcome with emotion.  I looked down at Brennan who was snuggled into my side and his face looked shell shocked.

His eyes wide, he cried out, "But that's so sad!  Why did that happen?  It's just so sad!"  He buried is head into my side and started to cry.  He hid his head with his blanket so we couldn't see his face.  I looked over at Griffin, snuggled into my other side, and he also was crying silent tears with an mouth open wide in emotion.

My boys.  My sweet, sweet boys.  I cried right along with them.

We are close to the end of the book and none of us want it to end.   Wonder has been a gift to all of us.