Wonder is in part inspired by an incident where the author's son started to cry after noticing a girl with a severe facial deformity.

Due to his condition, August has been homeschooled by his mother for several years; however, wanting him to experience the world, his parents enroll him into Beecher Prep, a private school, for the start of fifth grade.

Jack reconciles with Auggie, but is ostracized from his popular classmates, as Julian's influence divides the students into factions over the conflict.

Julian's mother writes to Tushman to voice her concerns over Auggie attending the school, citing that his appearance may be too much of a burden for the other students to handle.

Auggie overhears and angrily sulks in his room, hoping his mother will come comfort him, but Via comes in instead to tell him that their dog Daisy is dying.

[5] On the last night of the trip, Auggie and Jack are going to the toilet alone in the woods because they did not want to wait in the really long bathroom queue when they are attacked by a group of older students from another school.

[6][7] Common Sense Media gave Wonder four out of five stars, calling it a "moving, uplifting tale about a disfigured boy with inner beauty.

"[8] Entertainment Weekly said: "In a wonder of a debut, Palacio has written a crackling page-turner filled with characters you can't help but root for."

The New York Times called it, "rich and memorable [...] It's Auggie and the rest of the children who are the real heart of Wonder, and Palacio captures the voices of girls and boys, fifth graders, and teenagers, with equal skill."

"[11] The novel has been translated into 29 languages for worldwide sales: Spanish, Catalan, Japanese, German, French, Portuguese, Danish, Czech, Serbian, Arabic, Hebrew, Norwegian, Icelandic, Swedish, Faroese, Turkish, Dutch, Persian, Italian, Finnish, Russian, Korean, Chinese, Ukrainian, Polish, Croatian, Greek, Romanian, Vietnamese, and Slovenian.

It was directed by Marc Forster and written by Mark Bomback, starring Bryce Gheisar, Gillian Anderson, and Helen Mirren as Julian Albans, Vivienne, and Grandmère respectively.

In this 2019 graphic novel, Julian's Parisian grandmother tells him stories of her childhood as a young Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, when she was hidden from the Nazis by a classmate and his family.