Wonder

This was a popular and easy to read novel, enjoyed by the whole of the older group.

The story of 'Auggie' tackles an unusual subject with a light touch. 'Auggie' is a child born with a severe facial disfigurement: 'I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.'

At the age of 10 having been home educated to accommodate  numerous surgeries on his face, his parents agree he should try school.

The story covers this transition time, and is told through a number of child narrators, including Auggie, his big sister, and the children who befriend him.

This is a clever narrative device, allowing multiple perspectives.

However, our group felt there were too many voices, saying similar things. We enjoyed older sister Via's story, which was touching and unexpected, but the other narratives were less revealing.

One thing we disagreed with the author about was the need to keep the voices to the children. There was a strong feeling that the headteacher, Mr Tushman, should have been given a few chapters, and the group were nauseated by his lack of intervention in Auggie's terrible experiences. He fulfilled our impression of head teachers as omnipotent figures who appear to know everything, but do nothing.

I asked the group to think about the main theme of the book, which they judged to be 'kindness'. They felt this a relatively small theme, and this ultimately, a small story, in that Auggie's struggle is not a tragedy. The safety net of his loving family making everything possible for him, despite the prejudice of a few people.

Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes.

This month's book was a roaring success amongst all but one of the children. There was great appreciation for the characters, and plot lines, despite it's great length. Those of us who were less impressed found that despite an initially gripping start, we began to switch off as the plot became more fantastical.

There was some debate about the conclusion to the book, and relief that the ending was disclosed, thus eliminating the possibility of a sequel. Have I mentioned before that generally we dislike sequels? That said an idea for a story surrounding Sir Tode and the hag did seem like an interesting spin off adventure...?

Anyhow it seemed ironic that having spent the last session exploring the labyrinth; an exercise in sensory theatre carried out blindfolded, we now had a book about a blind boy-thief from which to launch another creative session.

I felt this called for some more games of the sensory kind. So, we tried listening intensely with our eyes closed, and did some work on creating scenes from the book using sensory techniques.