Wonder (pages 41-80)

Here come a couple more Star Wars references. First, 

Auggie has a small braid in the back of his hair. In class 

Julian asks him if it's a "Padawan thing." A Padawan is a

Jedi apprentice. Here's a picture of young Anakin 

Skywalker where you can see his Padawan braid.

We also learn that Auggie's favorite character is

Jango Fett...

...not to be confused with his son, Boba Fett.

Finally, and probably the most important Star Wars

 reference in this section, Julian asks Auggie if he likes 

Darth Sidious. Of course Auggie knows what happens to

 Darth Sidious in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the 

Sith. Why would Julian mention Darth Sidious?

Finally, this is the second time Auggie mentions that he has

 a cleft palate. Cleft means "split or divided" and your palate 

is the roof of your mouth. He says that even after two 

surgeries, he still has a hole in the roof of his mouth, which

 makes eating rather difficult and messy. He says that when

 he eats he looks like a tortoise eating. He's not trying to be

 funny. Just imagine, when describing himself to others, he 

compares himself to "some prehistoric swamp thing."

When Summer says goodbye to Auggie after school, his 

mother asks about her. Auggie's mom comments that 

Summer seems nice and is pretty. Auggie says, "We're kind of

 like Beauty and the Beast." Most of you are probably familiar

 with the Disney movie version of Beauty and the Beast, but 

the story was originally published in the 1700's.

 

Auggie and his dad call each other "Auggie Doggie" and "dear

 ol' Dad" after an old cartoon called Auggie Doggie and 

Doggie Daddy. Might as well see a clip. Why pass up an 

opportunity to watch a cartoon?

http://www.funniermoments.com/watch.php?vid=fb7ad8c27

Auggie's mom is reading The Hobbit aloud to him each

 night. The Hobbit is a classic high fantasy novel published

 by J. R. R. Tolkein in 1937. The Lord of the Rings is 

actually a sequel to The Hobbit.

"Hey, the truth is, if a wookie started going to school all of 

a sudden, I'd be curious, I'd probably stare

a bit."

 

There are a lot of different Wookiees in the Star Wars world...

                               

                    ...but Chewbacca is the man. He's awesome. 


It's not really needed to understand the story, but I can't 

pass up an opportunity to see the Wicked Witch of the West 

from the Wizard of Oz. That's who Summer was last year 

for Halloween. And Summer is right.It was a book first, 

written by L. Frank Baum and originally published in 1900. 

The author wrote thirteen sequels.

I always thought the Cheese Touch was pretty funny 

in The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. But when something similar 

to the Cheese Touch is going on, and it's for no reason other

 than because of who a person is, that's another thing 

completely. And a much less funny thing.

It's not necessary to know the whole history behind the 

Bleeding Scream costume, but it's nice to get the image in 

your head so you know what Auggie is talking about. It's 

become a pretty familiar mask at Halloween. This one 

includes a pump so fake blood will ooze down the mask.

Students give more comparisons to describe what Auggie 

looks like. Later, Auggie says he's heard them all before, but 

what makes these comparisons especially hurtful when he 

hears them? On Halloween he hears orc, a creature from 

the Lord of the Rings, and a shrunken head.

When Auggie tells some of the other names he's heard people

 say about him, he mentions two movie characters. The first 

is an alien called E.T. (who everyone thought was super-cute 

and cuddly), and Freddy Krueger, a character from a horror 

movie (who nobody thought was super-cute or cuddly.)