Thursday 24 July 2014

Review: The Julian Chapter by RJ Palacio

Over 1 million people have read Wonder and have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. Now readers will have a chance to hear from the book's most controversial character—Julian. 

From the very first day Auggie and Julian met in the pages of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wonder, it was clear they were never going to be friends, with Julian treating Auggie like he had the plague. And while Wonder told Auggie's story through six different viewpoints, Julian's perspective was never shared. Readers could only guess what he was thinking.

Until now. The Julian Chapter will finally reveal the bully's side of the story. Why is Julian so unkind to Auggie? And does he have a chance for redemption?




Review: I was so excited for this novella which is an extra chapter to the fabulous Wonder! I was really lucky because I literally went from reading Wonder onto reading this in the space of a week so I would really recommend re-reading wonder to get you in the right mindset for this one. A whole novella from the bullies point of view? Inspired. This novella has all the same great qualities as Wonder had. It is quick and pacey, has all the feels and a totally realistic voice of a teenage(ish) boy! 

I thought Julian was a totally hateful character after I read wonder. Everyone I meet who has read wonder feels the same way and so I kind of wasn't looking forward to hearing things from his point of view. I thought that perhaps I wouldn't spend the entire novella hating him, but I was surprised to find myself sympathising and even empathising with him during the reading of this one. It was also really great to hear some of the events from wonder retold from another point of view. 

This novella had the same great writing as wonder had an it was an absolute pleasure to be reading something by this author once again. She really does have the voice of the boys right and each character she writes about has their own unique way of thinking, something which I'm pretty impressed with. I'd love to hear more about Julian and August and I think a Wonder sequel would be absolutely inspired! 

Slight spoiler coming...

I read this with the same group of children at school who I read Wonder with and they loved every moment of it, particularly the story that Julian's grandmother tells. They were convinced the Julian would go back to Beacher Prep and were slightly disappointed that he didn't. So much so, that they are talking about rewriting the ending so that Auggie and Julian do meet up again. This is the impact that this writer has, encourages people to read and write as well as thinking about their actions-just fabulous!

#ChooseKind 

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