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Book taught students about friendship, kindness
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Neighbors | Submitted.Holy Family School sixth-grade students, from left, Theodore Ovaska, Nicole Rotunno, Nicholas Hayes, Matthew Brennan, Mya Blanco and Emily Testa displayed the posters they made to reflect the lessons they learned after reading the book, "Wonder."
By TIM CLEVELAND
Kathy Holsinger knew the novel, “Wonder,” was perfect for her sixth-grade reading class at Holy Family School.
The book by R.J. Palacio tells the story of a boy named Auggie entering school for the first time as a fifth-grade student after being homeschooled due to medical issues related to a facial deformity. The story is read from Auggie’s point of view, noting that he would just like to fit in as an ordinary boy even though he looks far from ordinary. The author also shares the story from the viewpoints of his family and other students at school. This story allows its readers to witness cruelty, kindness, courage and acceptance through the trials of middle school life.
Ultimately, the book’s lesson is to not judge a person by their looks.
“A colleague recommended that I read this book and after reading it I knew that I needed to share it with my students,” Holsinger said. “It has a powerful message. Of course, teachers share their lessons and projects and one teacher was so enthusiastic about the posters that her students had created that I felt that I would give it a try.”
In addition, the students made posters that displayed the lessons they learned from the book.
“In the book a teacher shares a monthly precept, or rule to live by,” Holsinger said. “This teacher also encourages the students to discover their own precepts. My students chose from one of these precepts or additional quotes from the book to create their poster. We learned a lot from ‘Wonder’ and the students were to help others learn these lessons too by sharing their posters in the hallway of our school.”
Holsinger said that the book taught students things that Holy Family tries to do every day.
“We were able to discuss many ideas and viewpoints about friendship, loyalty, kindness, acceptance and bullying with inspiration from this book,” she said. “We work very hard at Holy Family School to encourage kindness and acceptance and to walk in the way of Jesus everyday. This book brought these lessons to light.”
Holsinger said the book was a big hit with her students, who said things such as “It is more important to be yourself than to try and fit in,” “Just because people look different doesn’t mean that they are different from everyone else,” “Inspirational,” “My favorite book” and “Teaches a life lesson,” in response to it.