“Elephant Boy”
“Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right using of strength . . . He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts.”
–Henry Ward Beecher
Unlike my kids, who had to read it for school, I read it voluntarily.
But what a treat!
Take a break from Tolstoy and Jane Austen (or People Magazine and reality TV), and really treat yourself to Palacio’s 2012 kiddie classic.
The book’s subject, 11 year-old August, is essentially an adolescent Elephant Man (“Elephant Boy?”), dealing with horrific facial deformities in modern-day New York City.
The child’s experience — and those around him — are brilliantly told through multiple characters’ lenses.
And the ending is the equivalent of a literary walk-off homer: simultaneously evoking the book’s title and closing on the perfect note.
“Wonder” is wonderful — for any age reader.