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Wonder - Pages 133-157

Jack says the first time he saw August was in front of the Carvel on Amesfort Avenue. That would be like us seeing someone in line at  Dairy Queen. Carvel is an ice cream store. We used to have a Carvel in downtown Nashua.

And now, a side note from Mrs. Ackerman: The fourth chapter in Part Four is titled "Four Things." In that chapter both cheating and lying are mentioned. Now, you know I'm a teacher and all, so you probably expect this, but I want to go on record and say this: I condone neither cheating nor lying. (But I do think it says a lot about Auggie and Jack's relationship.)

That is all. Back to the cool stuff. ;-)

The two Maxes got Auggie playing Dungeons & Dragons a couple of times at recess. Dungeons & Dragons is a role playing game where players take the role of a fantasy character and then progress through a story engaging in battles, traveling, gathering treasure, and learning things. Players make decisions based on the story, and their success is determined by rolling dice. The game was first published in 1974 and played (gasp!) without the Internet.

Snow flies just before Thanksgiving, and Jack and his dad go sledding. On the way home Jack finds a wooden sled with metal runners that someone left as garbage, but he takes it and fixes it up. It turns out to be tons faster than the plastic sleds most people use.

Later, Julian tells Jack that he got a new sled too, a state of the art sled from Hammacher Schlemmer that cost $800. According to their website, the company has been around for 164 years. They sell some pretty crazy stuff like a snowball slingshot, a 9 1/2 foot remote controlled bald eagle, and an inflatable backyard log flume. And while I did not find an $800 sled in their online catalog, I did find this awesome snow cycleat the incredible low price of $1950 (now on sale for only $1200!). 

When Jack learns about Ms. Rubin's science fair project, he says he makes a face like Oh noooooo! like that kid in Home Alone. 

Seeing that image in his mind leads Jack down a rabbit trail of thoughts that eventually leads him to understand what Summer meant when she told him, "Bleeding Scream." Once he realizes what happened, he can't concentrate on school. (Could you? Remember what he said?) Jack says that Ms. Rubin just starts sounding like the grown-ups on Charlie Brown movies. And what do grown-ups sound like in Charlie Brown movies? Well, I'm glad you asked.

*All images linked to their source.

Wonder - Part Four: Jack

At the end of Part One, we read about what happened on Halloween at school. Most of you had some very strong opinions about Jack. Think about how you felt when the Bleeding Scream walked into class and heard the conversation between Darth Sidious and the two mummies. Got that feeling? Remember it?

Now consider the quote that begins Part Four, Jack's part:

"Now here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with one's heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."

Seeing with the heart? What is essential, or most important, is invisible to the eye? Does that match what we read at the end of Part One?

That quote is from The Little Prince, a short novel originally published in France in 1943, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. A preview is available in Google Books where you can read the first few chapters.

Wonder - Pages 118-132

Auggie mentioned the Cheese Touch back in Part One and said, "At Beecher Prep, I'm the old moldy cheese." Now we learn that the game (and I use that term loosely) is called The Plague. Are you familiar with that term? There have been several outbreaks of the plague, one of which was called the Black Death. Here's a description of what one outbreak did in the 1300's.

The trend of recent research is pointing to a figure more like 45 percent to 50 percent of the European population dying during a four-year period. There is a fair amount of geographic variation. In Mediterranean Europe, areas such as Italy, the south of France and Spain, where plague ran for about four years consecutively, it was probably closer to 75 percent to 80 percent of the population. In Germany and England ... it was probably closer to 20 percent. (quote from Wikipedia, further cited on that site.)

Can you imagine? In places where the death rate was lower, still 20% of the entire population died. In our class that would be six people. In other areas it was from 45-50% all the way up to 75-80%. In our class that's anywhere from fourteen to twenty-four people dying from the plague. 

And THIS is what kids say can happen if they touch Auggie. Do you think they realize the historical significance of the plague? Do you think they realize how horrible it was and that's why the named their game The Plague, or do you think they just used the term because they thought it was funny? How funny is it?

This painting is by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and was painted in 1562. The title of the painting is The Triumph of Death. Remember, it's a painting not a photograph, and it shows a lot of stuff in one image. What parts of the picture show real things from the plague? What parts are symbolic of the time?

Summer and Auggie share what their topics are for Egyptian Museum Day. Auggie gets the Step Pyramids of Sakkara and Summer gets Anubis, god of the afterlife.

Oh, by the way, more shoes. This time they are Summer's UGGs. 

All the students from the school dressed up in Egyptian costumes for museum day. Summer and Auggie dressed as mummies. I'm not sure what exactly they looked like, but here are a couple of ideas.

Boris Karloff from the classic 1932 film.

Homemade toilet paper mummy.

Something silly Mr. W found.

*All images linked to their source.

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