Wonder Comprehension Questions and Answers
Comprehension questions and answers for Chapters 1 to 12
QUESTION: Why was Auggie home schooled? Who were his friends?
ANSWER: Auggie was home schooled for first through fourth grade because he had a lot of surgeries and was often sick. Now he won’t need additional surgeries for a couple of years. Christopher was his best friend, though he moved away about three years earlier. They liked to play with Star Wars action figures and duel with light sabers. When younger, Auggie had play dates with other children, too. If those kids later saw Auggie, they said hi, but there was no additional interaction.
QUESTION: How did Auggie learn he might go to school for fifth grade? What was his reaction?
ANSWER: Auggie and his parents traveled to Christopher’s house for a visit. As Auggie and Christopher played, Auggie heard his mother say that he might be going to school the following year for fifth grade. This upset him, and he felt betrayed that his parents hadn’t told him about their plan. At first he was angry, then scared, and finally a little excited. Once his father was able to make him laugh and relax a bit, Auggie agreed to give school a try.
QUESTION: Auggie visited the school. Who were the two adults Auggie met? How did he feel about them?
ANSWER: When Auggie and his mother went for a school visit, they met Mr. Tushman and Mrs. Garcia. Principal Tushman treated him like any other student and seemed kind. His office was filled with cool stuff, and he had framed pictures drawn by students. He seemed to truly care about kids at his school. Mrs. Garcia, called Mrs. G by students, seemed nice, too, but she wore a shiny (not real) smile when she spoke to Auggie. Still, he thought she was okay. Mrs. G worked in the principal’s office.
QUESTION: Which students did Auggie meet during his visit? What did he learn about them?
ANSWER: Auggie met Jack Will, Charlotte, and Julian during his visit. Jack Will seemed nice and tried to show him things that he might like about the school. He privately suggested that Auggie speak a little more so others won’t treat him poorly. Charlotte was nice to Auggie, and she demonstrated her love for the theater. Julian acted well in front of the adults, but once they were gone, he wasn’t especially nice to Auggie. At one point, he even tripped Auggie to get back at him.
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Comprehension questions and answers for Chapters 13 to 26
QUESTION: Describe Auggie’s homeroom on his first day of school.
ANSWER: Auggie kept his head down and slid into a seat. Charlotte said hello, and Jack sat next to him. His homeroom teacher, Mrs. Petosa, gave students locks for their lockers and had kids introduce themselves. Auggie told about his sister and dog. Julian asked about his braid and his interest in Star Wars. Julian mentioned Darth Sidious because his face was deformed. Other kids didn’t seem to want to sit near Auggie.
QUESTION: What is a precept? What was Mr. Browne’s first precept? What did it mean?
ANSWER: Precepts are important rules that guides one’s decisions and behavior. Mr. Browne’s first precept: “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.” This means that how we treat each other is more important than being perfect in our answers and actions.
QUESTION: Who did Auggie meet at lunch? What did they talk about?
ANSWER: Auggie sat at a table by himself. He felt self-conscious; other kids looked at and talked about him. A girl named Summer asked to sit at his table. Because their names were “August” and “Summer,” they decided that only people with names related to summer could sit at there table. They made a list. But after making it, they said that nice people could sit with them, too.
QUESTION: How long did it take the children at Auggie’s school to get used to how he looked?
ANSWER: The children in all of Auggie’s classes got used to him in about a week. Those who only had a few classes with them took about two weeks to get used to how he looked. The rest of the students at his school seemed to get used to his looks within a month.
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Comprehension questions and answers for Chapters 27 to 44
QUESTION: What is the “Cheese Touch” and who had it?
ANSWER: Ximena Chin almost had a panic attack when she was asked to dance with Auggie, and someone didn’t want to touch him in science class. Auggie realized he had the Cheese Touch. This term comes from “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. It means that you’re considered an outcast if you touch the thing or person who is currently considered an outcast. Auggie was considered the contagious outcast.
QUESTION: What was Auggie going to be for Halloween? What costume did he wear to school? What happened because of this change?
ANSWER: Auggie planned on dressing up as Boba Fett, but his father was in a hurry that morning so Auggie dressed up as the Bleeding Scream. Since no one recognized him, he was able to go to class unnoticed. That’s how he overheard Jack say that he’d rather die than be like Auggie. This made Auggie feel betrayed. He cried in the bathroom and then stayed home for two days and a weekend. Finally he returned to school but he was no longer Jack’s friend.
QUESTION: What was Via’s place in her family? Why didn’t she complain?
ANSWER: Via was Auggie’s older sister, and the oldest in their family. Via saw herself as a planet that orbited the sun. In her family, Auggie was the sun. When Via was six, she realized that there was no point in complaining. She’s saw Auggie fighting for his life. Anything she complained about seemed seem trivial compared to what Auggie had to go through just to stay alive.
QUESTION: How was Via treated by others — Gran, Miranda, Ella, and strangers?
ANSWER: When Via was 11, she stayed with Gran during one of Auggie’s surgeries. Gran made her feel special. She said she loved Via more because Auggie had many watching over him, but Via only had Gran. And when Via was with Gran, no one stared at them like they did when she was with Auggie. Her two best friends, Miranda and Ella changed their appearance and social group during the summer. They did not include Via. She was hurt by their rejection. But others, even strangers, only saw her as Auggie’s sister.
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Comprehension questions and answers for Chapters 45 to 56
QUESTION: When did Via tell Auggie her definition of normal? What was her definition?
ANSWER: After Auggie came home from school, interrupting Mom and Via’s girl day, he had no intention of returning to school because of the mean things that Jack had said about him. Via convinced him to return to school and go to the Halloween parade as Boba Fett. She said that being normal meant going to school even when you didn’t want to.
QUESTION: What is the plague? What nickname did Julian give Auggie?
ANSWER: Julian gave Auggie the nickname Zombie kid, behind his back. Kids have to wash their hands within 30 seconds if they touch Auggie or they will get the plague.
QUESTION: Who invited Summer to a Halloween Party? What happened at the party?
ANSWER: Savanna invited Summer to her Halloween party. Summer went, but once there, she was told that she had to give up her friendship with Auggie to be popular. She also found out that Julian liked her. Instead of deciding between Auggie and Julian, Summer called her mom and asked her mother to pick her up. She no longer wanted to be at this Halloween party.
QUESTION: Why didn’t Jack want to go to school early to meet Auggie? Why did he?
ANSWER: Mr. Tushman asked Jack’s mom if Jack could be one of Auggie’s welcome buddies. He had been recommended for this by his previous teachers. Jack guessed who Auggie was and didn’t want to meet Auggie personally. He remembered how he first responded to seeing Auggie. They were sitting on a bench and eating ice cream. His baby sitter, his brother and he left the bench after they saw Auggie sitting on it. He chose to meet Auggie at school because his brother Jamie ran screaming from Auggie at a playground. If a good kid like his brother did that, he knew Auggie didn’t stand a chance at school.
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Comprehension questions and answers for Chapters 57 to 69
QUESTION: What can Jack do now because he is not Auggie’s friend? What doesn’t he like about this freedom?
ANSWER: Jack was able to hang out with more people when he didn’t hang out with Auggie. Unfortunately, he didn’t like hanging out with the popular group as much as he liked hanging out with Auggie.
QUESTION: What is the name of Jack’s sled? How did he use it with his family? What did he learn about it from kids at school?
ANSWER: Jack named his sled Lightning. He found it discarded on Skeleton Hill. Jack worked to make it look like new. He and Jamie, his brother, had a lot of fun using it on Skeleton Hill. It went faster than he imagined, a lot faster than plastic sleds. At school, he learned that the sled had been discarded by Miles, who thought it was too junky to use.
QUESTION: What caused things to change between Jack and Julian?
ANSWER: Julian tried to get Jack to not be Auggie’s project partner. Jack punched Julian in the mouth when Julian said that Jack didn’t have to be partners with a freak. Jack told his mother why he punched Julian, but wouldn’t tell Mr. Tushman. As punishment, Jack was suspended, had to apologize, and had to pay for Julian’s dental bills, because Julian had lost one of his baby teeth when he was punched.
QUESTION: How did Jack and Auggie become friends again? Why didn’t kids hang around Jack anymore?
ANSWER: Jack was suspended just before Winter Break because he punched Julian. During break, He used his Facebook account (Jacklope Will) to tell Auggie he was sorry for saying what he did at Halloween. Auggie accepted his apology and acknowledged that what Jack did to Julian was in his defense. When Jack returned to school, no one wanted to hang around him. Charlotte told Jack that he was now in a war with Julian and all the boys had picked sides.
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Comprehension questions and answers for Chapters 70 to 83
QUESTION: How was Jack’s world at school now similar to Auggie’s everyday school life?
ANSWER: Some classmates disliked Jack, not because they knew him but because another person told them to dislike him. A lot of kids wouldn’t talk to Jack now, and some acted like he didn’t exist. People talked about him negatively at a party that he didn’t attend, and he was only welcome to sit and eat lunch at the summer table. People acted like he had the plague, which is how classmates have treated Auggie.
QUESTION: How were Via’s and Justin’s families different?
ANSWER: Via’s family enjoyed spending time with each other. They had family traditions and stories, and they told each other that they loved each other regularly. They weren’t perfect, but they cared for each other. Justin’s parents got a divorce when he was four. He spends half his time with one and half with the other. Although he spent time with them, he felt like they couldn’t wait until he grew up so he could take care of himself and not bother them. He had an older half-brother, but they didn’t spend any time together. Justin had tics, but being with Via’s family was relaxing and his tics would go away.
QUESTION: What did Justin notice about Jack? How did he help Jack?
ANSWER: Justin walked Jack to the bus stop so he could go home. When Jack bought gum from a store, Julian, Miles, and Henry followed him, said mean things, and acted tough before running away. Justin realized that these kids were teasing Jack because he was Auggie’s friend. After Jack left and as Justin was on his way to catch the subway, he saw Julian, Miles, and Henry. He made his instrument case seem like it was holding a gun and warned them to stay away from his friend Jack.
QUESTION: What caused the war and the plague to slowly end? How could Auggie tell?
ANSWER: Time helped end the war. The boys started getting upset at some of the mean things that Julian did to Jack, such as dumping pencil shavings into his backpack. Amos took the pack from Julian and gave it back to Jack. When Julian, Miles, and Henry began telling people that Jack had hired a hit man to get them, all the boys left their side. Auggie realized the plague was over when people bumped into him in the hall and didn’t respond differently than bumping into anyone else. As he began to joke with other kids about how he looked, they started to enjoy his sense of humor. This happened around the end of March.
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Comprehension questions and answers for Chapters 84 to 96
QUESTION: What worried Auggie about getting hearing aids? Why didn’t he mind them in the end?
ANSWER: Auggie hated his ears more than any of his other features. He thought the hearing aids would call even more attention to them and had hoped to get through fifth grade before having to wear them. When he saw them, he didn’t want to wear them. They were big and attached to a band. He thought he would look like Lobot from Star Wars. But once the doctor turned the hearing aids on, Auggie could hear clearly, which made him like them. And no one at school made a fuss about them.
QUESTION: What did Miranda do for Via, though no one noticed? Why did she do this?
ANSWER: Miranda pretended she was sick so Via could perform the play in front of her family. Miranda’s family and her friends weren’t coming opening night so there was no one in the audience to see her. She did well pretending to be sick so no one realized what she’d done. Via seemed to know, though, but she had to go on stage so quickly that Miranda didn’t have to explain anything to her about why she was doing what she did. Once Miranda thought about it, she didn’t know why she did it and wouldn’t know what to tell Via.
QUESTION: What caused the Pullman family’s fight to end? How did this tragedy draw them all closer together?
ANSWER: After Via was honest that she didn’t want Auggie at her show and Auggie called his mother a liar for not telling him the truth, their dog Daisy got worse and had to be taken to the vet. Taking their minds off their own problems and focusing on Daisy, who they all loved, helped them seek forgiveness from each other and put their other concerns into perspective. They drew closer together as a family amid their sadness at losing their dog.
QUESTION: What changed Miranda over the summer? Why did she prefer Ella’s friendship to Via’s friendship?
ANSWER: Over the summer, Miranda’s parents got a divorce. She wanted to stay home and be there for her mother, but her mother insisted that she go to camp. So she did. As a junior counselor, she was having a miserable time until she started making up things about herself and told people about Auggie, her pretend little brother. Because of that, she was accepted by the popular girls at camp, and they remade her hairstyle and look. When she returned, she preferred Ella to Via because Ella didn’t ask her any hard questions.
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Comprehension questions and answers for Chapters 97 to 111
QUESTION: How did Miranda’s generosity to Via benefit her?
ANSWER: Miranda not only got to see the joy of the Pullman family viewing Via’s success, she was invited to go to dinner with them. When Via told Miranda that she was going with them, the awkwardness between them evaporated. (We don’t know if this was only for the moment or would start to be that way in the future, too.) Being included by the Pullman family and treated as a friend by Via made Miranda truly happy.
QUESTION: What didn’t Auggie take on the Nature Retreat, and where did he leave it?
ANSWER: Auggie originally packed Baboo, a small, stuffed bear, in his sleeping bag. But the morning of the trip, he woke early and thought he saw Daisy in the shadows. He knew it was just shadows playing tricks, but thinking about her comforted Auggie. He left Baboo on his bed, along with a note to his mom. He said that she could hug it if she missed him.
QUESTION: What did Auggie like about the Nature Retreat?
ANSWER: He liked almost everything, especially knowing that Julian wasn’t there. He also liked all the activities, such as the hike, playing with friends, watching a campfire, horseback riding, rapelling and going to watch a movie.
QUESTION: What happened in the woods by the fairgrounds? Who came to Auggie’s aid?
ANSWER: Jack had to go to the bathroom but the bathroom lines were too long. So he and Auggie went into the woods to pee. Once there, a group of seventh graders, who had been setting off firecrackers and smoking, called Auggie an alien. Amos, Miles, and Henry came to Auggie’s aid when the seventh graders wouldn’t let Auggie and Jack leave.
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Comprehension questions and answers for Chapters 112 to 123
QUESTION: How did Auggie’s experience at the nature reserve change things at home and at school?
ANSWER: After Auggie’s run-in with seventh graders, kids at school treated him like one of them. Even older kids at school started calling him “Little Dude.” At home, his mom, dad, and sister showed they really missed and appreciated him. And his dad brought home a puppy that they called Bear.
QUESTION: What was the main idea of Mr. Tushman’s graduation speech?
ANSWER: Mr. Tushman said that those graduating from fifth and sixth grade still had most of middle school before them. His speech celebrated the possibilities that each student presented. He measured their success by how they spent their time and the people they touched along the way. He stressed that it wasn’t enough to be kind but that each should strive to be kinder than the situation called for. Kindness is a simple thing, and it’s a choice.
QUESTION: How did Auggie carry “the most hearts by the attraction of his own”?
ANSWER: Auggie chose to be kind to others and be himself, even when his appearance seemed to offend others. He seldom returned meanness when others were mean to him, and continued doing what he did well, which was his schoolwork. By being himself and not holding a grudge against others, he became an inspiration to others. And when he, though he was small, stood up to bullies to protect Jack, others saw a glimpse of his courageous heart. As a result of living his life the way it should be lived, he changed the lives of others for the better. His path was not easy, but it was good, and that’s what others saw.
QUESTION: How were the pictures taken at graduation different from the class pictures taken at the beginning of the year?
ANSWER: Auggie did not want to have his picture taken at the beginning of the year. He was included in the class picture only because he had to be. At the end of the year, he was having pictures taken of himself with a few and then many friends. He was no longer embarrassed by how he looked or what this group of friends would say. They were all excited about capturing their graduation day in pictures.
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BONUS: Comprehension questions and answers for “The Julian Chapter”
QUESTION: What started Julian’s nightmares? What caused him to start having them again?
ANSWER: Julian was scared by a Zombie face on TV when he was 5. He was scared again by seeing Voldemort’s face without a nose when he was young, too. He started having nightmares called night terrors about them. When he was around 8, the images of Darth Sidious and Gollum sent him back into the fear. After meeting Auggie, he started having those intense nightmares again.
QUESTION: What kind of notes did Julian send? How did they cross the line?
ANSWER: Julian’s notes started by saying no one liked Jack, but they went into name-calling, hate, wishing he’d never been born, and saying he should die. These mean actions crossed into bullying when Jack’s value as a human being was questioned and the words started to show a destructive anger.
QUESTION: How did Mr. Browne’s email help Julian?
ANSWER: Mr. Browne did not make Julian feel like he was a “demon-child.” Julian felt understood. Instead of berating Julian for his actions, Mr. Browne asked Julian to ask himself some questions so the problems he had would not be repeated when he went to a new school. The email also helped his grandmother understand what had been going on. From this understanding, she was able to help Julian sort through what he’d done wrong at Beecher Prep.
QUESTION: How did Julian’s grandmother help Julian finally feel remorse?
ANSWER: His grandmother told him a story about World War II, when she was a young girl. In it, she had to come to terms with her fears and prejudices against anyone who wasn’t beautiful. When a lame child saved her life and eventually died in a concentration camp, she learned her lesson. From this, Julian faced his fear of zombie-like faces, felt remorse and responded by sending Auggie a letter.
© 2024 Simple Literature
Click here or on the cover to learn more about downloading the full curriculum for Simple Literature’s first lesson of Wonder FREE at TPT.