First-person narration and seeing through August
Wonder is told in the first person, but not just by August. The novel hops between narrators, and the moment it does, you realise how little you knew him when only he was speaking.
Part of your national curriculum
- Reading: Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader
Key learning points
- • August's first-person voice
- • The switch to other narrators
- • Kindness as a plotted choice
- • The precepts
This lesson at a glance
- 24 minutes
- 20 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 20
Watch first
First-person narration and seeing through August
Move between first-person narrators and find the whole truth needs every voice.
In a nutshell
Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 20
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · August's first-person voice
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 20
Learn
August's first-person voice
August (Auggie) narrates his own story, and his voice is funny, scared and precise. First person lets us feel the cost of being stared at from the inside. But it also traps us in his view: we know what he sees and fears, not what the others are really thinking.
Reset break
Part 4 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 20
Learn
The switch to other narrators
The novel then gives chapters to Via (his sister), Jack, Summer and others. The first switch is a shock of recognition: a scene that was only painful in Auggie's view becomes complicated in another's. The technique teaches the reader that no single viewpoint contains the whole truth.
Quick check
Part 6 of 20
Quick check
Part 7 of 20
Reset break
Part 8 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 2 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 9 of 20
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Kindness as a plotted choice
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 20
Learn
Kindness as a plotted choice
In Wonder, kindness is not a personality trait — it is a decision a character makes and sometimes reverses. Jack is kind, then cruel under peer pressure, then brave again. Plotting kindness as a choice (not a nature) is the novel's moral engine: it asks the reader to choose it too.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 20
Learn
The precepts
The English teacher gives monthly 'precepts', short mottos to live by. These refrains structure the moral life of the school. They are also a device: they let the novel state its themes out loud, so the reader can test the characters (and themselves) against the words.
Reset break
Part 12 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 3 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 13 of 20
Quick check
Part 14 of 20
Challenge round
Part 15 of 20
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Reset break
Part 16 of 20
Pause
That's sitting 4 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Challenge round
Part 17 of 20
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
____ (Auggie) narrates his own story, and his voice is funny, scared and precise.
The technique teaches the ____ that no single viewpoint contains the whole truth.
Challenge round
Part 18 of 20
Game · Recall cards
What is a foil?
Card 1 of 4
Mastery quiz
Part 19 of 20
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: First-person narration and seeing through August
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. What is a foil?
2. Which best describes a turning point?
3. A character speaks kindly in public and cruelly in private. This mainly shows:
4. Dramatic irony affects an audience mainly by:
Lesson round-up
Part 20 of 20
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
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Ask LunaPart 1 of 20 · Watch & discover
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Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader