By: Kayla Stephensen

While Wonder came out two years ago, it is a story whose ideas are still prevalent. Bullying and teasing about any imperfection are always going on, and insecurities of adolescents never get old. As the main character Auggie, a 5th grade boy with facial deformities, exclaims at his mom, “I’m ugly mom!” and proceeds to cry. The mother, as most of ours do, tells Auggie that, “Our faces are the map of where we have been and our hearts are maps of where we’re going.” She reminds him, in that tearful mother moment, that he is not ugly.

Both times I’ve seen this scene, I shed a few tears. While I have not had facial deformities since birth, a reminder of the beauty of each individual face is always welcome.

The side plot of the sister’s experience with a brother who gets all the attention at home is also a universal feeling. Loneliness could be felt when the Via, the sister in high school, is left alone at the dinner table after he little brother runs off yelling about his first day, the mom goes after him and shortly followed by their dad. She looks at the dog and asks, “Are they going to ask how my first day went?” She then shakes the food in front of the dog in a “no” fashion. That struck a sad chord.