January 2014 – Mackenzie's imagine this!

I am Mikael Kingsbury

mackenziec206 on January 25, 2014

I see the faces of everyone in the vast crowds, and their cheers don’t doubt that I will win.

I feel my body lift off the ground, and fly through the snow-streaked air

I wonder what my fierce competitors are doing, but I don’t look back

I hear my skis crunch the crisp snow on the finish line

I hope that I will be the one standing on that podium, the world looking up at me

I think I feel the weight of gold around my neck

I am Mikael Kingsbury

I am winter

Every once in awhile, something comes along that makes you stop and really think. For me, it always seems to be a book, specifically a book that my third-grade teacher read to the class, because let me tell you, she read a lot of good books. But people and things can always surprise you, and I was definitly surprised.

So anyways, back in November my teacher started this new class read-aloud. I don’t really love being read to, because I find that it’s way easier to gaze out of the nearest window and let your brain take off on some other planet. But I have to admit that when my teacher was reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio, my attention never wavered. Basically, it’s about this 10-year-old kid, August, who has a facial deformity that made it difficult to go to school with, so his mother homeschooled him. But when September comes, August’s parents decide it’s time to send him into the world of cafeterias, science projects, and hundreds of people who aren’t used to how his face looks. It’s hard to say what scene is my favourite, because it has an amazing collection of everything a reader would need: humor, sadness, pride, adventure- the list could go on and on, but the most importabnt thing is that I can relate to it, that it actcually reminds me of when I was in grade five.

An important theme of this novel is that you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. To some, August may appear as a monster, but as you learn in the book, he’s as average on the inside as any other kid- maybe even a little better. I think this book is good for kids in grade six to eight, but really, if you want to read it and you’re in grade twelve, or grade one, or whatever, I say go for it. It has perspectives of fifth-graders and teenagers, so it can interest many age groups.

Out of five stars, I would give it a five, which is pretty high considering that I read a lot of books. But this is one of those stories that stick with you, and that you stick with.