Carnegie book wards 2013 discussion

A very upbeat American book about a boy starting middle school for the first time. So far he ha been home schooled due to horrific facial disfigurement. I found it little too cheerful though the positive outlook is probably well suited to its target audience.

I also felt it needed heavier editing. I was a little irritated by all the different points of view.

This one I'm leaving till last! I think it has a great chance of winning. Every person that I've spoken to so far has loved it! It will be interesting to see if I too find the different points of view irritating....I will let you know, Anna :)

I thought it got better, it was a bit annoying at the beginning, but it's still hovering between three and four stars.

OK Elizabeth. :D
What did you like about it Ela?

I thought the other points of view were quite sweet, I just didn't like the protagonist's narrative, At the beginning he was really annoying and although he got better it was never QUITE right :)

That's interesting. I felt the opposite, it reminder me of a picture book with the punch line "and that's how i hurt my knee" that we use to read to our kids. The heroine recounts tall tales about aliens, crocodiles, plane crashes, abductions, bear attacks etc before admitting that she fell off a swing. It was always great for the first few pages then left you desperate for the finale. Sadly the kids always knew when we cheated!

Yeah I did feel the moral was a little heavily emphasised but I liked the other people's stories in between for the exact reason that they deviated slightly from this moral.

Did you have a favvourite POV?

I found the sister's point of view was my favourite, I connected with her the most. I would rather have had her narrating again instead of her boyfriend. The first half of the book was more memorable than the second.

Yes I'd agree with both of those points. Some of the narratives seemed a bit thin. I was irritated that the boyfriend's voice was seemingly identified by the fact that he couldn't punctuate when all the other POVs were in Standard English! That seemed unnecessary.

I've got about halfway through, so NO ONE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS. Sorry about that, I get very annoyed. So far I think it's quite good, I like the POV changes, but for me they are too short. I had just remembered who Via was and then it changed again. I also agree that the moral is a little obvious, but apart from I like it. I'd probably give it 4 stars.

Anna wrote: "A very upbeat American book about a boy starting middle school for the first time. So far he ha been home schooled due to horrific facial disfigurement. I found it little too cheerful though the p..."

I wouldn't call it upbeat, but I agree that it could have been a lot more depressing.

I couldn't possibly comment since you're still reading it :)

Interestingly this is the novel from Carnegie 2013 that Oxford University Press has chosen to put into its Schools catalogue. Not the one I would have chosen. What do you guys think?

I can see why, as it's the sort of book people seem to think children will learn how to treat other people by. I wouldn't disagree, necessarily. It probably is the most suitable shortlist book for Year 7 - Year 13. What would you have chosen instead?

Mmm I suppose The Weight of Water. My younger readers certainly seem to be enjoying Wonder. The comments about The Weight of Water are positive but they think it is 12+ not 10+.

I liked this book a lot. I thought the characters were well thought out and it really worked well hearing the stories from different points of view. I do have two criticisms though. Firstly I don't think it was necessary for the boyfriend to have such poor writing, no capital letters etc. I really don't think he was that kind of character, he came across as someone quite intelligent so there was no need for the type to be like that. It was just irritating and distracting. The other problem I had was the rather predictable ending.

I agree that really irritated me. None of the other characters had 'teenspeak' or 'text speak' so I couldn't see why he would - especially as teenagers increasingly tell me they don't use it!
I found the POV increasingly irritating however! The first couple were ok but by the end I was praying for them to stop.
The ending was very Disney.

I would have to agree with what most of you are saying. I found the story as a whole very nice and it definitely had good emotional moments that made me smile and laugh, but the way it is written is a big annoyance. I understand that the character is a teenager and speaks less maturely than an adult, but I still think that the author, being an adult, should write it in a way that makes it interesting and engaging. The way she writes it makes the whole book flow badly. It's very choppy and just makes me uncomfortable. I wish I could say this was well written because this is in no way a bad book, but I can't.

Anna wrote: "A very upbeat American book about a boy starting middle school for the first time. So far he ha been home schooled due to horrific facial disfigurement. I found it little too cheerful though the positive outlook is probably well suited to its target audience. I also felt it needed heavier editing. I was a little irritated by all the different points of view. "
Yes. Endings like the one in this book are very anticlimactic because you have heard so many times before in other children's books and movies. But younger people who read this probably won't care, considering that is the target audience.

Hi Calvin, Thanks for joining our discussion. Yes it is a shame about how it is written but I totally agree that the happy ending is age appropriate. A lot of books these days are very grim so it was nice to read something that did have a positive outcome. I have a feeling that Wonder will win.......mind you it's the one that the majority of my students have read and enjoyed so maybe it won't..haha

Hi Calvin ;)
I also think that the studnets who enjoy Wonder won't enjoy In Darkness or Code Name Verity, and may find Magott Moon too dark as well.

It's a bit obviously an issues book but has been quite popular with the yr 7 in my group. I suppose its quite cheerful.

Yr 7 were hugely enthusiastic about Wonder and Auggie today! One is reading it again!

The favourite amongst my group.

I think that Wonder will probably win this year. It's a good book, I enjoyed it. Olivia's story connected more with me than Auggie's did, he annoyed me a little at the end (that sounds terrible but his voice did get irritating as he didn't have anything to add to the story!). I hope that the judges don't choose it because it's what should win, for a political point that we should treat people with facial disfigurements well, that would be too patronising! If it does win it should win because it's enjoyable.

I'm hoping it doesn't win!

Same, but I agree about the voices Zara. I found Auggie's narration really irritating.

The sisters pov was my favourite to, I think it was the most believable and realistic character. I have posted a review for this book :)

I wanted more of the Olivia's (the sister) friends POV, that was the storyline I was actually interested in.