Auggie & Me

Despite my super mixed feelings on [b:Wonder 11387515 Wonder R.J. Palacio https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309285027s/11387515.jpg 16319487], Auggie really stuck with me, so when I saw that these novellas were available from the library, I decided to get some closure on Auggie's story. The Julian Chapter immediately took me back to my strongly positive feelings about Wonder: the way in which RJ Palacio captures the nuance of bullies. Not of bullying, but of bullies as people. The way that a ten year old can seriously think “Aw, shucks, but I didn't mean anything by it” as a defense to even terrible actions, which seems unfathomable to most adults. I liked the way that fear informed a lot of Julian's actions, and I liked how his parents were well-intentioned but contributory.As the narrative of the books shifts away from Auggie and the events in Wonder, they lose a sense of having a center of gravity and become very light and fluffy: The Shingaling is a cute little story about Charlotte learning how to make friends across the social divides, which does really capture a tween girl social dynamic, but is more shallow. And then finally, Pluto is basically a plutoid: the shape is a little irregular with story parts sticking out – Christopher used to be Auggie's best friend and there are lumps of flashbacks that don't add much, to the small little nugget of story about Christopher's band friends.