Parent-child reading | Children's Literature Miracle Boy

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Today's sharing is the novel "Miracle Boy" by American writer R.J. Palacio, and the book "Miracle Boy" itself also creates a miracle.

It is the debut work of the author Palacio, which swept countless literary awards in the United States as soon as it was published, winning the National Parent-Child Publishing Gold Award, the American Library Association Children's Book Recommendation Award, the Mark Twain Award, the International Reading Association Teacher Recommendation Award, and shortly after publication, Miracle Boy also topped the New York Times children's book list and dominated the list for more than 120 weeks.

Many well-known American children's book authors and Newbery Prize winners have stood for this book and strongly recommend that readers must read this work. The novel is about a boy with a facial defect. Wouldn't you be a little curious as to why the writer chose such an imperfect, even a little scary-looking child, as the protagonist of the story?

One day many years ago, Palacio had not yet become a writer, but an editor at a publishing house. She took her two children out for ice cream and stumbled upon the little girl in front of them with a serious defect in her face. Palacio's youngest son, who was only three years old at the time, burst into tears when he saw the little girl.

Palacio felt embarrassed and guilty, worried that his son's crying would hurt the little girl and her family, so he hurriedly grabbed the child and left. Behind the scenes, Palacio always played back in her mind, regretting and blaming herself for the way she handled it at the time, and how good it would have been if she hadn't walked away. She could have taken the child and talked to the little girl.

It also led to a question lingering in her head. How many times a day does this little girl and her family experience this? How did they put up with all this?

Thus, the prototype of the miracle boy Auguste gradually took shape in Palacio's mind. He and the little girl Palacio had met had a similar face, a similar encounter. August in the novel faces this dilemma every day from childhood to adulthood. He felt like he was just an ordinary kid. Deep down, he said, I felt ordinary. But the people he met reminded him that he was not ordinary at all.

He also gradually understood that an ordinary child would not be on the playground, frightening other ordinary children to lose their voices and scream and scatter to escape. An ordinary child will not be stared at all the way wherever he goes.

Other children want to be beautiful and outstanding. But Auguste's wish was to have an ordinary face that no one would notice. The wish is beautiful, but August's face, after dozens of surgeries, has not become "ordinary". This face split his world into two halves, half home and half outside.

At home he was an ordinary child, and mom and dad loved him as much as all parents loved their children, and even thought he was cute and had a pair of extremely beautiful eyes. The contrast diametrically opposed to him made August less and less able to face the outside world and strangers. For a while, he covered his face with an astronaut helmet and didn't even allow his dad, mom, and sister to face him.

Auguste's defects were caused by defects in his parents' recessive genes. As a result, his mom and dad felt guilty and always wanted to protect Augustus as much as possible. They had been indulging Augustus not to go to school, to make friends, not to face the outside world. In fact, Mom and Dad's love is also a huge astronaut helmet. It's just a different way for August to escape, refusing to face reality.

Auguste's helmet was later snuck away by his father, and the family and doting on this larger helmet had to be removed by going to school and in contact with children of the same age. It is like the process of a worm transforming into a butterfly, and only by experiencing tribulations and pains, the hard cocoon that conflicts wrap itself in, can it be possible to win a new life.

That's why Mom insisted on getting August to school, even though Dad thought August was going to school like a lamb to be slaughtered. Fortunately, August's education path began relatively smoothly. In Miracle Boy, Palacio created a unique and interesting school for Auguste, which is the Beecher Preparatory School. The principal of the school, Mr. Tuchman, is a bit like the principal of Kobayashi In "The Little Bean by the Window".

They understand the inner world of children and respect their feelings. They also know how to guide them subtly and educate them. At the same time, Mr. Tuchman not only unconditionally accepted, in the eyes of others, the little boy August who was "severely disabled". He also looked at him with admiration, encouraged him in everything, and helped him. Understanding that August was upset about his face, he arranged the entrance interview at Auguste's house. In order to help August, who has never been to school and has never experienced a collective life, smoothly pass the transition period. He also selected three of the best children in his opinion, Julian, Charlotte and Jack, and formed the August Welcome Committee, hoping to use this as an opportunity to make August fall in love with school life.

However, even in the "Garden of Eden" like Beecher's school, human nature still has good and evil, and there are weaknesses. Two of the three members of the August Welcome Committee proved to be hopeless. Julian is a rich boy who loves to bully people, one set behind his face. He pretends to welcome August, but in fact he is doing everything wrong, trying to drive away this "freak" in his eyes. Although Charlotte does not take the initiative to bully August, she is indifferent and indifferent to his difficult situation. Only Jack genuinely wanted to help August.

In fact, Jack and Auguste's meeting at school was not their first meeting. Many years ago, Jack and his brother went to buy ice cream and met August. Jack's brother cried loudly, and his mother fled with them. Seeing this, everyone will shout, isn't this the writer Palacio's own experience?

In this world, most people are good, but most people are also unwilling to face mutilated and not so beautiful things. Like Jack's brother, or perhaps Palacio's daughter, they didn't mean to hurt an innocent child like August. It's just that when they face imperfection, they can't help but feel fear, discomfort, and feeling offended and threatened.

In fact, it is not only they who will react like this, how to treat a child like Auguste correctly. How to face the imperfections of others is a tricky problem for anyone. In "Miracle Boy", August's mother and Julian's mother have a sharp contrast in their attitudes on how to treat August.

Auguste's mother had her son in mind, and she tolerated all his flaws, convinced that he could do miracles. She gave all her love to Auguste, even ignoring her eldest daughter's feelings. Julian had two sides and three knives, and his mother was a snob like him. She felt that the appearance of an "abnormal" child at her son's school was seriously damaging her son's interests. She clamored for the headmaster to fire August, and gave the older August to P.

With the help of the different attitudes of the two mothers, the writer Palacio, in the novel, very deeply reveals the plight of a "flawed" child. The screams and disgust of others will hurt them, but doting and sympathy also make them feel sad. It is wrong to ignore them and treat them coldly, but excessive care is also harmful. Because excessive attention and doting also remind them all the time that you are not normal, you must be taken care of.

In fact, in the heart of a child like August, all he longs for is "normal." It is enough to be treated normally, to be given normally, and not less than other children. It is precisely because of this realization that the writer Palacio, when telling the story of the "Miracle Boy", does not always stand in Auguste's perspective and narrate his tragic experience in a self-pitying tone.

She brings together the different characters involved in the story, each with the right to see and tell the story from their own standpoint. August's perspective is mixed with many other perspectives, and Auguste's voice is also mixed with many other voices, becoming a puzzle that constitutes a multi-world, and we can also look at his story from a perspective that transcends his vision.

We know that in his story, there is more than his joys and sorrows. Auguste was initially immersed in his own grief, never realizing that his beautiful, excellent sister had been ignored by his parents since he was a child. Only in grandma has been pampered and cherished. August also did not notice that his good friend Jack, in order to maintain his friendship, was isolated by other children, and was cautious and cautious every day. Auguste was even less aware that there were actually many good people around him.

For example, the girl Summer has always shared his pain and loneliness with infinite kindness and courage. Auguste is only one of many sentient beings, his suffering is only one of countless sufferings, and his experience is only one of the countless human experiences. If there were a pair of just eyes looking down on the earth, it would surely see that Auguste was not the most painful, nor the most unfortunate. Heaven also gave him many gifts that others could not ask for.

From this point of view, he really isn't that "special.". Perhaps, in the real world, a flawed child will not be as lucky as August. He will suffer more, be ignored, be isolated, but that does not mean an "imperfect" life, without the right to change his destiny. If you look at it from a harsh point of view, who in the world is perfect?

Augustus's mutilation grows on the face, and some people's mutilation is in the heart, in the soul. Everyone, like Auguste, has a vulnerable side. However, it is also those of us who have weaknesses and imperfections that have created miracles again and again.

Auguste said that everyone deserves at least one standing ovation in their lifetime, because we are all better than the world! To put it another way, the main thrust of the book "Miracle Boy" is not to describe the tragic experience of a physically handicapped child. Through this book, the writer Palacio wants to lead us to re-recognize and look at the "imperfections" of ourselves and others. Tolerate the imperfections of others, accept their own imperfections, and give standing ovations to others and to themselves.

This is Auguste's realization after a year of hard and happy school life. It is also the true meaning of life that "Miracle Boy" wants to tell us. Accept ourselves, tolerate others, and each of us can create miracles.

- End -

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Zhao Zijun, an article a day, recording work life, reading and learning. Be a seed that spreads love.

Public number: Zhao Jun. Writing is not just about recording, it is evoking some beautiful hearts that are sleeping.