White Bird: A Wonder Story

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Epigraph-Part 1, Chapters 1-10

Part 2, Chapters 1-6

Part 3, Chapters 1-5 and Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Further Reading & Resources

Further Reading: Related Middle-Grade Reads

Wonder by R.J. Palacio (2012)

Wonder is a middle-grade novel written by R.J. Palacio. Though multiple narrators tell the tale, the plot centers around August “Auggie” Pullman, a 10-year-old kid who has a genetic condition called mandibulofacial dysostosis that has left his face misshapen. Auggie’s life of relative isolation is upended when he transitions from homeschooling to attending Beecher Prep Middle School. He faces bullying and discrimination, because of his appearance, as well as the routine trials of growing up.

Wonder on SuperSummary

Auggie & Me by R.J. Palacio (2015)

Auggie & Me is a collection of three short stories written as a companion to Palacio’s famous novel, Wonder. Auggie & Me illustrates the complexities of navigating friendship, specifically as children change over time. All three stories show how the yearning to do right and form meaningful connection is often challenged with the pressures of growing up and wanting to fit in with their peers.

Auggie & Me on SuperSummary

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (2015)

The War That Saved My Life is a work of historical fiction by bestselling author Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. The novel is intended for middle-grade readers and explores the theme of persistence and hope during WWII.

The War That Saved My Life on SuperSummary

The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (2017)

Set in Britain from 1940 to 1943, The War I Finally Won recounts three years in the lives of 11-year-old Ada and her six-year-old brother Jamie. Ada and Jamie live with a woman named Susan in a small village in Kent. Ada and Jamie were evacuated from the London slums to the countryside at the start of World War II (1939). This middle-grade novel is the sequel to The War That Saved My Life.

The War I Finally Won on SuperSummary

Further Reading: Graphic Memoirs About War

Maus by Art Spiegelman (1980)

Maus by Art Spiegelman is the first graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize. This historic memoir interlaces two narratives, one of Spiegelman’s Jewish father as he survives World War II Poland and the Auschwitz concentration camp, and the other of Spiegelman recording his father’s story while navigating their contentious relationship. The graphic novel is notable for its art style, with the Jews drawn as mice, the Germans as cats, the Poles as pigs, and the Americans as dogs. The characters are depicted as animals to reflect the dehumanization caused by prejudice, war, and genocide.

Maus on SuperSummary

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2000)

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic memoir about Satrapi’s experiences growing up in Tehran, Iran before and after the revolution in 1979. The graphic memoir is characterized by Satrapi’s distinct black and white visual style and whimsical, rounded drawings depicting the violent events before and after the revolution. Persepolis and Persepolis 2 were made into a critically acclaimed, animated movie in 2007.

Persepolis on SuperSummary

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (2017)

The artist and writer Thi Bui published her autobiographical graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do, in 2017. Alternating her narrative between her present-day experiences as a new mother in New York City with her parents’ past growing up in and then escaping from Vietnam, Bui builds a complex web of intergenerational trauma and love. This is Bui’s first venture into comic book illustration. The artwork that accompanies her narrative is based on the black and white starkness of Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.

The Best We Could Do on SuperSummary

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei (2019)

They Called Us Enemy is a graphic memoir written by author, actor, and activist George Takei and illustrated by Harmony Becker. The story chronicles Takei’s childhood experience in the Japanese internment camps in America during World War II. Takei frames the narrative with a modern-day talk he gives at the home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who presided over the country during the internment period. During the talk, Takei tells his family’s story while examining the conflict between his faith in American democracy and the terrible decision to create the internment camps.