Shingaling

Shingaling is the third of R. J. Palacio's Wonder stories, written for 9 year olds and told by Charlotte, who was handed the job of showing Auggie round when he started.

What happens

Charlotte explains friendship with Venn diagrams. Her and Ellie in first grade, two circles almost on top of each other. Her and Ellie now, two circles barely touching. She does not add anything. She does not need to.

Most of the book is about a dance. Mrs Atanabi is choreographing a piece for the school gala at Carnegie Hall and there are only three places in it. Ximena will get one because she is the real dancer. Savanna will get one because she is Savanna. Charlotte assumes the third is hers.

Around that, the girls in Charlotte's year are sorting themselves out. There is a lunch table that was thrown together by accident on the first day and has been coming apart ever since. There is a war between the boys that Charlotte refuses to take a side in, which turns out to be its own kind of side.

And running underneath it all is Auggie, who has a facial difference, and what everyone did when he arrived. Summer picked up her tray and went to sit with him. Nobody else moved. Charlotte watched.

What makes it so readable is how fair Charlotte is to herself. She is proud of always being first to sign up and she knows exactly how that looks to other people. She is a bit smug about Ellie's dancing. She admits it. She wants the popular group to like her and she wants to be a good person, and she can feel those two things pulling in opposite directions.

It is American, so there is fifth grade, middle school, lunch trays and a mom to get used to. None of that gets in the way.

Nothing here is frightening, but it is not comfortable either. There is a lot of quiet unkindness. A teacher is given a cruel nickname behind her back. A boy gets punched. Children discuss another child's face while he is sitting in the room. If your child is in the thick of friendship trouble at school, some of this will feel very close to the bone. Which is also exactly why it might be the right book for them.

What to read next

It helps enormously to start with Wonder itself. Auggie tells that one, beginning with a promise not to describe what he looks like, because whatever you are picturing is probably worse.