In the world of teaching, there are hoards of books that allow educators to break barriers and be the kick-butt teachers we know them to be. As a future educator myself, this task of reading and being aware of valuable material has become more important to me now that I'm in college.

I've always adored books. Talk to anyone who knows me (or just look through my previous articles) and you'll quickly find out that books are very important to me. I mean obviously, I'm going to be an English teacher!

Every reader knows that they have the most time for reading in the summer when they're home from school or perhaps get a break from work. I've read quite a few books already since finishing my freshman year in early May, but there's one that's stuck out to me as a book that all educators (current and future) can glean something from:

"Wonder" by R.J. Palacio

"Wonder" is a fantastic novel for educators because of so many reasons. It's largely set in a school, simple enough for every school-age to understand, complex enough in its concepts to interest various ages, has a wonderful plotline, introduces several values and moral lessons teachers can expound upon, etc.

The novel is about a fifth-grader named August (Auggie) Pullman, who was born with a severe facial deformity. He was born into a very loving and protective family of two parents and one older sister. Up until fifth grade, Auggie had been homeschooled by his mother, in order to protect him. He's had several surgeries to fix his face, and they helped, but they didn't give him a "normal" face, in his opinion.

When Auggie is about to start fifth grade, his parents decide they want to enroll him in a nearby grade school named Beecher Prep. It's a wonderful place that excels in academics and holds their students to high standards. It's a more individualistic approach than typical public schools.

Auggie is very reluctant to go to a real school because he fears people looking and staring at his face, or whispering about him behind his back. His fears are proven true when he starts school, and a supposed "star pupil" named Julian assigns Auggie his enemy quickly.

"Wonder" is the story of Auggie's journey through fifth grade in a regular school. It introduces good discussion opportunities on morals, friendship, bullying, medicine, school, and even grammar!

From an English teacher's standpoint, the characters are all vividly rich in detail and personality. I loved how Palacio looked through several of the character's points of view in order to round out the story more. It shows that everyone is going through several events and hardships all the time, even if they share some in common.

While it is set in a primary school, I would assign this to my future high school students if given the chance because they could learn several lessons from it too. Adults can learn a lot from younger children, and that is something that this novel definitely showcases in its main protagonist, August Pullman.

That being said, there are multitudes of great resources and novels for teachers to use in the classroom. Although, if you haven't read "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio yet, I strongly encourage you to.