The Julian Chapter

Starred review from February 20, 2012
Auggie Pullman was born with severe facial deformitiesâno outer ears, eyes in the wrong place, his skin "melted"âand he's learned to steel himself against the horrified reactions he produces in strangers. Now, after years of homeschooling, his parents have enrolled him in fifth grade. In short chapters told from various first-person perspectives, debut author Palacio sketches his challenging but triumphant year. Though he has some expectedly horrible experiences at school, Auggie has lucked out with the adults in his lifeâhis parents love him unconditionally, and his principal and teachers value kindness over all other qualities. While one bully manages, temporarily, to turn most of Auggie's classmates against him (Auggie likens this to becoming the human equivalent of "the Cheese Touch," a clever Diary of a Wimpy Kid reference), good wins out. Few first novels pack more of a punch: it's a rare story with the power to open eyesâand heartsâto what it's like to be singled out for a difference you can't control, when all you want is to be just another face in the crowd. Ages 8â12. Agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media Group.