Post 1: August

"I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse" (pg3).

 

I was hooked at the first sentence. We all want to feel like we are ordinary people. We all like simple things in life. For August it doesn't come so simple. He wants to be looked at just like other children but the fact is he is not like all the other children. The author R.J. Palacio begins the story by giving August a voice. He describes how he feels "ordinary" inside his body. "I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an Xbox"(pg3). The reader gets a glimpse through the eyes of August on his feelings as he begins his journey from being in the safe confines of his home and being home-schooled by his mother to venturing out to a middle school full of 5th graders he doesn't know. As an adult I can't help  but be reminded of the way I felt entering a new middle school full of people I didn't know. It was difficult enough being a shy girl and just trying to fit in ....somewhere. I was fortunate enough to be really good at sports so I found my "in" with the jocks in my school. I can only imagine the way August must have felt in his situation. His mother, Isabel, was a huge proponent of August entering school at Beecher Prep she felt that August was ready to learn more than she was able to teach him. Nate, August's father was not so supportive of this decision saying, "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do"(pg9). In the end dad went along with moms decision to let August try school.