Wonder by R

Ordinary I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old ______.

I guess. And I feel ______. Inside.

If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a ______ face that no one ever noticed at all.

But I’m kind of used to how I look by now. I know how to pretend I don’t see the ______ people make.

Mom used to be a children's-book ______.

Christopher moved to ______ in Connecticut.

I probably won't have to have any more ______ for another couple of years.

Mom got stuck with this cranky ______ doctor.

Mom was hysterical and the ______ nurse was yelling at her to stay calm

When the ______ nurse saw that he had fainted, she started pushing him with her foot

Mom thinks it was actually the ______ that finally woke the doctor up

I was really bummed when Christopher moved away three years ago. We used to spend hours playing with our Star Wars action figures and dueling with our ______

Mr. Tushman is the ______ of my new school

Dad was the one person in the world who could make me laugh no matter how much I didn’t want to ______

Mr. Tushman looked right at me and smiled and nodded. He put his hand out for me to ______

Mom and I arrived at Beecher Prep a few weeks before the start of school, and I saw Mr. Tushman standing there, waiting for us at the ______

Mom whispered to Dad, who was driving. “We can’t just pretend he’s going to wake up tomorrow and this isn’t going to be his reality, because it is, Nate, and we have to help him learn to deal with it. We can’t just keep avoiding situations that …”

“So sending him off to middle school like a lamb to the slaughter …,” Dad answered angrily, but he didn’t even finish his sentence because

“What’s a lamb to the slaughter.” I asked sleepily.

“What’s a lamb to the slaughter.” I asked sleepily. “Go back to sleep, Auggie,” Dad said softly. “Everyone will stare at me at school,” I said, suddenly crying.

Mr. Tushman is the director of the ______.

Here I have to admit I totally ______, because I knew exactly what he meant.

My mom and dad had a teacher called Miss ______.

Auggie, sweetie, don’t ______.

And I thought it was a ______, too, until the student who gave it to me explained that it is actually not a pumpkin.

Just as I thought that, it occurred to me how funny that was: cheeks, Mr. ______.