Is Wonder on Kindle Unlimited?

No. Wonder was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on August 8, 2026.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio book cover for the Book of the Day coming of age book review

Our score

4.6/ 5

Outstanding

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EDITION PUBLISHEDFebruary 2012

PublisherAlfred A. Knopf

Genres

Fiction Coming Of Age Contemporary

Themes

Kindness and the cost of courageDisability and differenceFamily, siblings, and shared burdensBelonging and acceptance

Wonder

Name: Wonder
Price: 8.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: R. J. Palacio

R. J. Palacio

R. J. Palacio's Wonder follows Auggie Pullman, a fifth grader with a facial difference, through his first year at a mainstream school. It's a coming-of-age novel that passes the narration around several characters to ask a plain question: is ordinary kindness really as hard as we keep making it?

The Review

Our take

The smartest thing Palacio does in Wonder is let Auggie tell us almost nothing about his own face. He won't describe it. He dares us to imagine the worst, and in that refusal the book finds its footing. We meet a fifth grader who loves Star Wars and ice cream and his dog long before we're standing in a hallway watching other kids flinch at him. By the time the staring starts, we're already on his side. So the cruelty reaches us the way it reaches him: sideways, constant, wearing.

What caught me off guard is how funny he is. Auggie's voice is dry and fast, full of fifth-grade logic and small private jokes, and that humor is doing real work. It keeps the book from curdling into a pity story. Palacio understands that a kid this self-aware would armor up with wit, so she lets him, and the painful moments land harder for arriving in the middle of an ordinary, joke-cracking life. There's a Halloween scene built on little more than a costume and a misunderstanding, and it does more damage than any speech about bullying could, because Auggie can't be caught flinching when nobody knows it's him under there.

The structure is the other gamble, and it mostly pays off. Once we're settled inside Auggie's head, Palacio passes the microphone around: his sister Via, who loves him and quietly resents the gravity he exerts on the whole family; a classmate or two; Via's boyfriend. The shifts complicate the easy hero story. Via's chapters are some of the strongest, because they admit what most kindness stories won't, that loving someone extraordinary can be its own kind of weight, and that some afternoons you just want to be the normal one. It's also where the book's softer instincts show. The moral arc bends steadily toward its lesson, and by the awards-ceremony finale a few turns feel engineered to reward you rather than surprise you. The adults come off wiser and steadier than adults usually manage. The hardest faces tend to soften right on schedule.

Palacio earns most of that warmth honestly, though, scene by scene, and she's writing for ten-year-olds as much as for the grown-ups who keep buying the book. In that light, a generous spirit isn't a weakness. It's the whole project. And the novel never mistakes kindness for softness. Being decent to Auggie costs his classmates something real: standing, comfort, the easy option of looking away. The book is clear-eyed about that bill.

Why you should read

Readers who love multi-perspective, voice-driven middle-grade fiction
Families looking for a read-aloud with real emotional weight
Fans of empathy-driven coming-of-age stories
Anyone moved by Out of My Mind or Fish in a Tree

What to expect

A warm, funny narrator who balances pain with humor
Rotating narrators that complicate the central story
An emotionally direct, deliberately hopeful arc
Short chapters and an easy, fast read

That clarity is why teachers still pull it out on read-aloud afternoons. It hands a child a working vocabulary for courage that has nothing to do with fighting and everything to do with choosing, over and over, to see a whole person.

Reviewed by Avery · Updated June 26, 2026 · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.6/ 5

Outstanding

Buy on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices may vary.

Where to read or listen

Is Wonder on Kindle Unlimited?: No. Wonder was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on August 8, 2026.
How much does Wonder cost?: On Amazon: Kindle $8.99, Paperback $16.99, Hardcover $9.74. Prices as of September 12, 2026 at 3:46 AM EDT and may change.

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Common questions

What is Wonder about?: The smartest thing Palacio does in Wonder is let Auggie tell us almost nothing about his own face. He won't describe it. He dares us to imagine the worst, and in that refusal the book finds its footing. We meet a fifth grader who loves Star Wars and ice cream and his dog long before we're standing…
Is Wonder worth reading?: We scored Wonder 4.6 out of 5. R. J. Palacio's Wonder follows Auggie Pullman, a fifth grader with a facial difference, through his first year at a mainstream school. It's a coming-of-age novel that passes the narration around several characters to ask a plain question: is ordinary kindness really as hard as…