I Wonder

Product Information

Mr Tushman is the headteacher of Auggie’s new school. At the end of the book, Mr Tushman gives Auggie an award for bravery and kindness. He makes a speech about the importance of kindness, saying that people should be "kinder than is necessary". Cross-curricular projects that help learners reflect on and consolidate what they have learnt in a creative way

Wonder is narrated by six different characters. Each voice brings its own perspective and lets us see things from a different point More than anything I’ve seen recently this book is a tactile experience, and yet another volume(that designation which Borges always used to emphasise) which makes a nonsense of the idea of screens as an adequate replacement for all books.” Before my daughter turned two, she began ignoring questions she couldn’t answer. Then she moved on to giving answers which she knew to be false. I realized that she had grown accustomed to being celebrated every time she answered a question correctly and was, naturally, less interested in exchanges that didn’t produce this response. But I also realized something even more important: I hadn’t taught her to say “I don’t know” let alone celebrated her ability to do so. In all social and emotional learning, children need our help identifying the many new feelings they experience: “Oh, that batman costume scared you,” or “I know, you feel sad when mommy leaves.” So I went looking for a children’s book that would help us talk about the experience of not knowing, but I couldn’t find one. In this short picture book, Auggie talks about his life before the events of Wonder. He has his astronaut helmet on most of the time throughout. As the school year ends, Auggie discovers that not only has he survived but he has thrived and made a positive impact on everyone even Julian.

Mr Browne is Auggie’s English teacher. Every month he teaches the children a new motivational quote, called a "precept", which helps them to think more carefully about their actions. At the end of the year, the children must write their own precept. As a book experience, the relationship between the content and the graphics is very important. They are totally interdependent and neither the articles nor the graphics can live without the other. I Wonder’ is more than just eye candy. It is worth taking the time to explore Bantjes’ theoretically founded design approach: The illustrations not only serve as decorative frames, but deliver important information which is tightly interwoven with the texts. For example, the photographic series of everyday, bland signposts in the author’s hometown first reveals the idiosyncratic typographic appeal of everyday graphics. Not until these elements are agglomerated do the larger patterns in her work take form. […] ‘I Wonder’ is a playground for Marian Bantjes’ non-conformist emotional approach to design. This stance, which draws its vitality from a childish curiousity makes it a marvelous antithesis to increasingly strategic and calculated communication design.” I Wonder rises above the usual design book in the way Bantjes marries her text — a deeply considered set of essays on topics such as Wonder, Ornament, Honor, the Alphabet — with the shapes and patterns her imagination enters to reveal layers of meaning. Again, those of us familiar with her art will not be surprised at how she uses everyday elements to capture profound thoughts. In Bantjes’ world, there is really no boundary between text and ornament, message and medium, everyday and profound. What I found most rewarding about I Wonder, though, is that instead of merely impressing or (worse) intimidating, the book is a testament to the artist/author’s belief in the ultimate democracy of the act of creation.”

As an atheist, I must say I appreciate this book on a further level. There's absolutely nothing in here that a religious person would find objectionable, but it's nice to see the mysterious unknowns in the universe answered with "I don't know", "no one knows", or "we can't know" but isn't it beautiful? Versus every answer being "God." Normally this is the kind of book I'd expect would be answered in quasi religious ways, and it wasn't and that's was kind of a breath of fresh air for me. It wouldn't preclude a religious person from interpreting it in a religious way though -- I don't want to be unfair to the author and turn off religious people.Auggie is an optimistic, funny and intelligent boy, who has overcome many challenges in his life. In the book we see him mature and grow in confidence and independence.