Normally, I read a book, then see the movie. Then I get frustrated that they didn't make the book into the 15 hour movie I saw in my mind while I read. Until now. My daughter read "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio a while ago. She immediately told me I needed to read it, but somehow I missed it on my "to be read" list.
She recently received the movie as a gift and asked for a family movie night. I could have raced and read the book first, but she said it was so good that I knew I needed to give it proper time to read (not race through it before watching the movie). So I promised to read it afterwards.
While the book and movie can never be 100 percent exactly the same, she was pleased with how similar the two were. I thought the movie was excellent and knew the book would definitely be amazing. The book covers so many important topics...being different, finding friends, changing friendships, growing up, sibling relationships, bullying, and more. Somehow Palacio packs it all in there in a way that everyone can relate to. It has lead to powerful discussions in our family. We've talked about how we treat each other, we've talked about bullying, we've talked about the things that make us different and the ones that make us the same. Above all, we've talked about my favorite quote:
"When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind."
Choose kind. I've said those two words so many times since our family movie night. While we have so many different hopes and dreams for each one of our children, the biggest one...be a good, kind person. Choose kind.Once in a while, a book and its movie adaptation can both be incredible and amazing. In this case, I don't prefer one over the other. Read the book. Watch the movie. Choose kind.
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