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R. J. Palacio

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7 min read

Reader rating

4.8

· 7,359 Amazon ratings
reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
$9.89 on Amazon
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Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories by R. J. Palacio Review: A Rich Companion That Expands Wonder's World

Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories is a companion volume to R. J. Palacio's widely beloved middle-grade novel Wonder, offering three separate narratives that place Auggie Pullman—the boy with a facial difference at the heart of the original book—in the background while three of his schoolmates take center stage. The collection brings together stories originally published as ebooks by Alfred A. Knopf/Random House in 2014 and 2015, gathered here in a single hardcover edition published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on August 18, 2015. With a Goodreads rating of 4.28 across nearly 39,000 ratings, it stands as a well-received extension of the Wonder universe, designed for readers ages 9–11 who want to stay in Auggie's world a little longer.

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Devoted fans of Wonder who finished the original novel and want to spend more time in Auggie's world through the eyes of the people around him — particularly readers aged 9–11 and teachers looking for flexible, classroom-ready companion material.

Worth it if

You've already read Wonder and want the emotional payoff of stepping inside Julian's, Christopher's, and Charlotte's heads to understand how one extraordinary boy reshaped the people closest to him.

Skip if

You haven't read Wonder yet — the emotional stakes of all three narrators depend entirely on context built in the original novel, and newcomers will find the connections and consequences largely hollow.

Common Sense Media's Darienne Stewart describes the collection as offering "thought-provoking stories of kindness and friendship," singling out how Julian's story forces him to confront his own cruelty and his parents' enabling role. Kirkus Reviews, as quoted on barnesandnoble.com, calls it "a memorable story of kindness, courage and wonder."

Sources: Common Sense Media, Barnes & Noble
4.8from 7,359 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

Age & Reading Level

Recommended age

Ages 8–12

Reading level

Middle grade

Browse all 8–12 books

Content to know about

bullying and peer cruelty
parental enabling of bullying

Best for: Ages 9+ — three distinct narrative voices and moderately complex moral themes (including a bully's interior reckoning) suit confident readers in the middle-grade range

Skip if you're looking for a standalone story with a full sustained arc rather than a short companion to a book you've already read

In This Review
  • What Works & What Doesn't
  • What the Book Actually Contains
  • The Central Tension: Auggie as Catalyst, Not Protagonist
  • Significance and Reception
  • Strengths: Empathy Through Multiplicity
  • Limitations and Who It's For

What Works & What Doesn't

What Works
  • Three distinct first-person narrators—Julian, Christopher, and Charlotte—give Auggie's story genuine new dimensions without simply rehashing the original novel
  • Julian's chapter, in particular, offers moral complexity by placing readers inside the perspective of a bully confronting his own cruelty and his parents' role in enabling it
  • Holds a strong Goodreads rating of 4.28 across nearly 39,000 readers, reflecting deep and sustained affection from the Wonder fanbase
  • The self-contained structure of each story makes the collection flexible for classroom, read-aloud, or independent use
  • Common Sense Media describes it as offering thought-provoking stories of kindness and friendship, consistent with the Choose Kind spirit of the original
What Doesn't
  • Requires prior knowledge of Wonder to fully appreciate—readers new to Auggie's world will lack the emotional context that makes each narrator's relationship with him meaningful
  • The anthology format gives each story less narrative room than the original novel, which may feel limiting to readers accustomed to Wonder's sustained, full-length arc
This companion to Wonder is built for the millions of readers who finished Palacio's debut novel and weren't ready to say goodbye to Beecher Prep.
Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories by R. J. Palacio front cover
Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories by R. J. Palacio front cover

What the Book Actually Contains

Auggie & Me brings together three distinct stories, each narrated by a different character from Wonder: Julian, the bully who resented Auggie's arrival at Beecher Prep; Christopher, Auggie's oldest friend; and Charlotte, a classmate who became one of Auggie's new allies at school. Rather than retelling Wonder from fresh angles, each story functions as its own self-contained narrative, exploring what Auggie's presence—and, at times, his absence—means to the people around him. The three stories were originally released individually as ebooks by Alfred A. Knopf/Random House in 2014 and 2015 before being compiled into this illustrated hardcover edition. The book is aimed at readers in grades 3–7, roughly ages 9–11.
“I wish Auggie Pullman had never come to Beecher Prep in the first place!”

The Central Tension: Auggie as Catalyst, Not Protagonist

The structural gambit that defines Auggie & Me is a bold one: Auggie Pullman, the boy who commanded the entire narrative of Wonder, is here a supporting character. Each narrator is shaped—sometimes transformed—by their relationship with him, yet he never speaks for himself. Julian's story is perhaps the most dramatically charged of the three. As the book's own text puts it, his inner voice simmers with resentment: "I wish Auggie Pullman had never come to Beecher Prep in the first place!" That raw antagonism, rendered from the inside, gives Julian's chapter a moral complexity that goes beyond simple villainy. Common Sense Media's Darienne Stewart notes that Julian's story has him confronting his own cruelty and the role his parents played in enabling it—a dimension that adds genuine weight to what could have been a one-dimensional bully portrait. Christopher, meanwhile, grapples with selfishness and what it takes to maintain a friendship across distance and change, while Charlotte's narrative rounds out the triptych with a quieter perspective on belonging.

Significance and Reception

Wonder itself carried substantial critical momentum into this companion volume. The original novel was called "the best kids' book of the year" by Slate, and critics praised Palacio's ability to capture the voices of children across ages and genders "with equal skill"—a quality that directly bears on what Auggie & Me attempts across three very different narrators. The companion has found a large and enthusiastic readership of its own: on Goodreads, it holds a 4.28 rating from nearly 39,000 readers, reflecting sustained affection from the Wonder fanbase. Common Sense Media describes the collection as offering "thought-provoking stories of kindness and friendship," situating it squarely within the Choose Kind ethos that made the original novel a cultural phenomenon embraced well beyond classrooms.

Strengths: Empathy Through Multiplicity

The collection's core strength lies in how it uses multiple first-person perspectives to model empathy as an active, sometimes uncomfortable practice. Rather than simply affirming that kindness matters, each story puts readers inside a narrator who has—in different ways and to different degrees—failed Auggie or themselves. Commentary at newbookrecommendation.com highlights that Palacio's ability to capture the complexity of middle school dynamics is evident throughout, and that each story showcases not only personal challenges but also meaningful lessons about growth. The format also gives the book flexibility: readers can engage with each story independently, making the collection accessible for classroom use, read-alouds, or individual exploration in any order.

Limitations and Who It's For

Readers coming to Auggie & Me without having first read Wonder will find themselves at a disadvantage. The emotional stakes of each story depend heavily on the context and attachments built in the original novel—Auggie's impact on Julian, Christopher, and Charlotte carries far more weight when readers already know who Auggie is and what his year at Beecher Prep cost him. This is, by design, a companion and not a standalone entry point. Additionally, the anthology format means no single narrative has the room to breathe as fully as Wonder itself did; readers looking for the sustained arc of the original may find the shorter, episodic structure feels compressed by comparison. The book is best understood as a gift to existing fans of the Wonder universe rather than an introduction to it.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

  1. Cited in this review
  2. 1
    Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories by R. J. Palacio: 9781101934852 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

    penguinrandomhouse.com

  3. 2
    Auggie & me : three Wonder stories : Palacio, R. J., author : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

    archive.org

  4. 3
    Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories by R. J. Palacio, Dawson Griffin, Lena J. Marano, Jonah Bromley | 2940194649068 | Audiobook (Digital) | Barnes & Nob

    barnesandnoble.com

  5. Further reading
  6. 4
    R. J. Palacio — author profileHigh-authority source

    R. J. Palacio, Wikipedia

  7. 5
    Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories – Author R. J. Palacio – Random House Children's Books

    rhcbooks.com

  8. 6
    Summary of 'Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories' by R.J. Palacio

    newbookrecommendation.com

  9. 7
    Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories Book Review | Common Sense Media

    commonsensemedia.org

  10. 8
    Review: Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories by R. J. Palacio |

    jennsbookshelves.com

  11. 9
    Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories Book Review and Ratings by Kids - R. J. Palacio

    dogobooks.com

  12. 10
    Auggie and Me: Three Wonder Stories by R.J. Palacio – Young Llama Reader

    youngllama.com

  13. 11
    [Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories]: A Review – greenish bookshelf

    greenishbookshelf.com

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