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Garden Heights Academy
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Wonder · Garden Heights Academy
Part 2
for Wonder · Part 2 · Narrated by Via
a novel by R.J. Palacio
30 min6 Parts
This workbook is built on a solid pedagogical foundation, effectively integrating content and language learning based on the CLIL framework (Content and Language Integrated Learning), elevated by our unique 5th C — Connection — and an integrated Standardized Test section that weaves every SAT & TOEFL question type right into the novel, so learners build real test skills easily, naturally, and with fun.
💭 Before You Read · Just for Fun
No right or wrong answers — just think or chat about it: Who gets the most attention in your family — and who quietly gets the least? Can you love someone and still feel a little invisible beside them? And if your family were a solar system, where would YOU orbit?
What Happens in Part 2
Auggie’s fifteen-year-old sister, Olivia — Via — tells her side of the story. She loves Auggie deeply, but she has spent her whole life as ‘the sister of the boy with the face,’ often overlooked while the family revolves around him. She pictures Auggie as the Sun and the rest of the family as planets orbiting him. Starting high school, Via feels her old friends Miranda and Ella drifting away, and she is still grieving her grandmother, Grans. But she also meets a kind boyfriend, Justin, and joins the school play.
What We Will Learn
Literary Element
What It Means
Point of View
Whose eyes a story is told through; Wonder has several narrators
Metaphor
Describing one thing as if it were another, without ‘like’ or ‘as’
Theme
The big idea behind a story, such as feeling unseen within a loving family
Chapter Summary
In This Part
Key Events
A New Voice
The story shifts to Via, showing how family life looks from a sibling’s side
The Sun
Via describes Auggie as the Sun the whole family orbits
Drifting Friends
Miranda and Ella grow distant as Via starts high school feeling alone
Justin & the Play
Via meets her boyfriend Justin and joins the school play
Copyright Notice
Independent study guide by Garden Heights Academy. Not affiliated with or endorsed by R.J. Palacio or Alfred A. Knopf. No text from the novel is reproduced. Students should read the original book.
Part 1
Vocabulary
Study 10 key words from Part Two (Via), then answer each question.
🧠Knowledge Bank · The Siblings Who Wait
Lexicology · The Siblings Who Wait
Part of the book is told by Auggie’s sister Via, who loves him but sometimes feels invisible because so much family attention goes to him. This is real: brothers and sisters of children with serious medical needs often quietly put their own worries last. By giving Via her own narrator’svoice, Palacio reminds us that in any family, everyone has a story worth hearing. Loving Auggie and wishing to be seen is a normal, researched tension — not a betrayal. Here, overlooked carries a different emotional weight from resent, although both belong to the same conflict. Each orbit term earns its place by distinguishing overlooked within The Siblings Who Wait. The Siblings Who Wait becomes clearer when orbit, overlooked, and resent are treated as related but nonidentical terms.
Their distinctions create a more exact shade of nuance.
ⓘ Vocabulary words are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the novel.
perspectiven.Pt.2
A particular way of seeing or thinking about something
“Part 2 shows the family from Via’s perspective.”
orbitv.Pt.2
To move around something, as a planet circles the sun
“Via feels the family orbits Auggie.”
overlookedadj.Pt.2
Not noticed or given attention
“Via often feels overlooked at home.”
resentv.Pt.2
To feel bitter or hurt about something that seems unfair
“Sometimes Via quietly resents being ignored.”
griefn.Pt.2
Deep sadness, especially after a loss
“Via still carries grief over the death of Grans.”
driftv.Pt.2
To move slowly apart
“Via and her old friends begin to drift apart.”
sacrificev.Pt.2
To give up something for the sake of others
“Via often sacrifices her own needs for the family.”
invisibleadj.Pt.2
Not seen or noticed
“Next to Auggie, Via can feel invisible.”
devotedadj.Pt.2
Very loving and loyal
“Despite everything, Via is devoted to her brother.”
adjustv.Pt.2
To change in order to fit a new situation
“Via must adjust to a new high school.”
1A particular way of seeing or thinking about something is a —Pt.2
2To “orbit” something means to move around it, the way a planet circles the sun.Pt.2
3Via often feels she is not noticed at home. She feels —Pt.2
4Fill in each blank with the correct word.Pt.2
Word choices:invisiblegrieforbitdevoted- some words will not be used
Next to her brother, Via can feel
Via still feels deep sadness, or
5To “resent” something means to feel happy and grateful about it.Pt.2
6Via and her old friends slowly move apart. They —Pt.2
7Even though she feels unseen, Via is very loving and loyal to Auggie. She is —Pt.2
8To “sacrifice” means to give up something for the sake of others.Pt.2
9Fill in each blank with the correct word.Pt.2
Word choices:adjustperspectiveresentdrift- some words will not be used
Starting high school, Via must
Part 2 shows the family from Via’s
10Via must change in order to fit her new high school. She must —Pt.2
Part 2
Comprehension
How well do you understand Part Two (Via)?
🧠Knowledge Bank · A Change of Narrator
Narrative Logic · A Change of Narrator
When the narrator changes, ask: who is telling this part, and how does their view differ from Auggie’s? Via loves the same family Auggie does, but she sees it from a very different place. A New Voice: The story shifts to Via, showing how family life looks from a sibling’s side. The Sun: Via describes Auggie as the Sun the whole family orbits. Drifting Friends: Miranda and Ella grow distant as Via starts high school feeling alone. Justin & the Play: Via meets her boyfriend Justin and joins the school play. Auggie’s fifteen-year-old sister, Olivia — Via — tells her side of the story. She loves Auggie deeply, but she has spent her whole life as ‘the sister of the boy with the face,’ often overlooked while the family revolves around him.
That connection reveals the plot’s central causation.
1Who narrates Part 2?Pt.2
2Via is August’s older sister.Pt.2
3What image does Via use to describe Auggie and the family?Pt.2
4What stage of school is Via starting in Part 2?Pt.2
5Put these events from Part 2 in the correct order. Write 1–4 (1 = first).Pt.2
Via explains that the family orbits Auggie like the Sun.
The story shifts to Via as the new narrator.
Via meets Justin and joins the school play.
Via’s old friends drift away as she starts high school.
6Via sometimes feels overlooked because the family focuses so much on Auggie.Pt.2
7Which friend came back from summer camp changed and distant?Pt.2
8Whom does Via begin dating?Pt.2
9Even though she feels unseen, Via loves her brother very much.Pt.2
10What activity does Via join at her new school?Pt.2
Part 3
Literary Elements
Understanding HOW and WHY R.J. Palacio writes Part Two (Via) the way she does.
🧠Knowledge Bank · Point of View, Metaphor, and Theme
Literary Technique · Point of View, Metaphor, and Theme
Palacio uses a new point of view (Via’s), a striking metaphor (Auggie as the Sun), and a quieter theme about loving someone while still longing to be seen yourself. Astronomy — Via’s metaphor is physics: the Sun really does hold 99.8% of the solar system’s mass, so everything else must orbit it — Via’s image of her family is astronomically exact. Theater — the school play: drama programs hand students exactly what Via needs: a stage where the spotlight, for one night, is officially yours. Starting high school, Via feels her old friends Miranda and Ella drifting away, and she is still grieving her grandmother, Grans. But she also meets a kind boyfriend, Justin, and joins the school play. Via’s section names a real experience psychologists study: the brothers and sisters of a child who needs extra care, sometimes called ‘glass children’ because adults look straight through them to the sibling in need.
Concrete detail makes the scene vivid through imagery.
📚 Literary Devices in This Part · definitions & examples
Point of view is whose eyes a story is told through. Wonder switches narrators, so Part 2 is told from Via’s point of view.A metaphor describes one thing as if it were another, without ‘like’ or ‘as.’ Via calls Auggie ‘the Sun.’Theme is the big idea behind a story. A theme of Part 2 is loving someone deeply while still longing to be noticed yourself.
The questions below are mixed — not grouped by device. Decide which device each one is about.
1The story switching to tell events through Via’s eyes is a change in —Pt.2
2A metaphor describes one thing as if it were another.Pt.2
3Fill in the blanks with the correct words.Pt.2
Word choices:themefamilymetaphorSun- some words will not be used
The big idea behind a story is its
A theme of Part 2 is love within a
4Calling Auggie ‘the Sun’ that the family orbits is a —Pt.2
5A theme can be about family and the need to feel noticed.Pt.2
6Fill in the blanks with the correct words.Pt.2
Word choices:point of viewViametaphorsetting- some words will not be used
Whose eyes a story is told through is its
Part 2 is told from the point of view of
7Via loving Auggie yet wishing to be seen shows a theme about —Pt.2
8Wonder is told from more than one point of view.Pt.2
9Fill in the blanks with the correct words.Pt.2
Word choices:metaphorSunfactsetting- some words will not be used
Describing one thing as if it were another is a
Via’s metaphor compares Auggie to the
10Via’s METAPHOR — Auggie as the Sun, the family as orbiting planets — does real work in Part 2. What does it let her say that plain words could not?Part 2
Part 4
Think Deeper
Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it through.
🧠Knowledge Bank · Everyone Has a Story
Ethical Reasoning · Everyone Has a Story
By giving Via her own voice, Palacio reminds us that love and resentment can exist in the same family without canceling each other out. Seeing many viewpoints teaches mature readers to hold complicatedfeelings with fairness. Wonder is told by several narrators, not just Auggie. Palacio uses Via to show what families around serious medical needs can experience: deep love, worry, routines shaped by appointments and surgeries, and siblings who may feel invisible. The structure builds empathy for the whole family system. Point of View: Whose eyes a story is told through; Wonder has several narrators. Metaphor: Describing one thing as if it were another, without ‘like’ or ‘as’. She pictures Auggie as the Sun and the rest of the family as planets orbiting him.
The choice carries both freedom and responsibility.
1Claim: “Via loves August but also feels invisible in her own family.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence
2Who does each detail describe? Tap each item to send it left or right.Sort into two
◄ AugustVia ►
3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect
The family’s life bends around Auggie’s needs→
Via starts a school where no one knows Auggie→
Via keeps her worries to herself→
Grans once called Via her favorite→
4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument
Via hides her own problems because , which shows the theme that .
Part 5
Standardized Test · Main Idea & Detail
Part 2 sharpens two core exam skills — Main Idea and Factual Detail — with Vocabulary in Context practice, in the styles the SAT and TOEFL use. Read the passage (the highlighted words are tested below), then choose the answer best supported by the text.
🎓Knowledge Bank · Main Idea vs. Detail
Test Skills · Part 2A main idea is the umbrella; details are everything standing under it. After each paragraph, pause and say its point in about five words (“farm work was slow”… “tractors changed everything”…). Detail questions then become easy: you already know which paragraph holds the answer. Watch out for choices that are true in real life but not stated in the passage — exams love that trap.
Why do planets circle the Sun instead of sailing off into space? The answer is a force you cannot see: gravity. Every object with mass pulls on every other, and the more massive the object, the stronger the pull. The Sun is so enormous that it contains about 99.8 percent of all the mass in our solar system — so its pull is strong enough to attract and hold everything else: eight planets, dozens of moons, and countless comets and asteroids, all held in its grip across vast, empty space.
An orbit is really a compromise between two motions: a planet is always falling toward the Sun — and always moving forward at tremendous speed. The two together bend its path into a closed curve, repeated so precisely that astronomers can predict a planet’s position centuries ahead. Nothing about this is voluntary: a planet cannot choose to wander. As long as the Sun burns at the center, the paths around it stay constant. The arrangement has one striking feature: the Sun gives everything and holds everything, yet it is the planets that do all the moving — from distant Neptune to sun-scorched Mercury, each world lives its whole life shaped by a center it can never leave and never become. The solar system, in other words, is not a family of equals — it is one blazing star, and everything else adjusting, forever, to the pull at the middle.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1As used in the passage, the word “mass” most nearly means —SAT · Words in Context
2According to the passage, what does everything in the solar system adjust to?TOEFL · Factual Information
3According to the passage, how much of the solar system’s mass does the Sun contain?TOEFL · Factual Information
4According to the passage, an orbit is the combination of which two motions?TOEFL · Factual Information
5As used in the passage, the word “constant” most nearly means —SAT · Words in Context
6In the passage, the word “vast” is closest in meaning to —TOEFL · Vocabulary
7Prose Summary (TOEFL).The passage explains why planets orbit the Sun. This TOEFL task lists six sentences; choose the THREE that best capture the passage’s main ideas. The other three do not belong — they state minor details or ideas the passage does not present.TOEFL · Prose Summary
8According to the passage, why can astronomers predict a planet’s position centuries ahead?TOEFL · Factual Information
9The passage most strongly suggests that if the Sun’s mass were suddenly far smaller, the planets would —TOEFL · Inference
10Why does the author end by calling the solar system “not a family of equals”?SAT · Text Structure & Purpose
Part 6 · Optional
Creative Writing
A bonus challenge to practice your English.
About This Section
This writing task is optional and not part of your auto-graded score. Feedback checks length, spelling, and grammar only.
Writing Task — Part 2 “Via’s Diary”
Write a diary entry as Via. Show how it feels to love Auggie deeply and yet sometimes feel invisible. Use her point of view (‘I’). Write at least 40 words.
You can start with: “Everyone always asks about my brother. Tonight, for once, I wanted to write about me, because…”
0 / 40 words minimum
🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)
No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.
