Wonder

Main character Auggie has a craniofacial condition, and the book centers around his experiences. He's a complex character with realistic kid emotions and flaws. The rest of his family members provide great examples of how to support a loved one living with a visible disability. Though the novel stops short of endorsing disability hierarchy, it does unfortunately use casual ableism when Auggie yells, "I'm not retarded!" (It's never explained to Auggie that this isn't acceptable.) As written by female author R.J. Palacio, women in the book, such as Auggie's mom and sister, have important roles. Characters' ethnicities aren't made clear, but physical markers include Auggie's brown eyes, Via's "olive skin and the bluest eyes," and Mr. Tushman's "blue eyes with white eyelashes," and there are supporting characters with blond and brown hair. A minor character is named Mrs. Garcia.

Auggie's friend Jack Will punches another boy. Some seventh-grade kids pick on Auggie and his friends, and physically assault them. Kids are pushed, bruised, and scraped, and a child's sweatshirt is torn; the violence in this scene is preceded by verbal abuse, which makes the physical attack especially disturbing. A family experiences the loss of a beloved pet.

Auggie's high school-age sister, Via, has a boyfriend, and they kiss a few times.

No curse words, but a lot of hate speech and insults. Other children call Auggie an "alien," an "orc," and a "freak"; they slip notes into his locker telling him to "Get out of our school," and they pretend he has a contagious disease that they call the Plague. Auggie himself uses discriminatory language when he yells "I'm not retarded!"

Auggie and a couple of his classmates come across some seventh-grade kids whom they observe smoking. It's not entirely clear whether they're smoking cigarettes or pot.