In RJ Palacio's 2012 novel, Wonder, the character of August "Auggie" Pullman has been homeschooled until fifth grade because of insecurities owing to his birth defect. When he enters public school, he and his parents fear that he will be bullied because of his appearance. While this fear holds true to some extent, the effects are mitigated by the positive influence of his teacher, Mr. Browne. Mr. Browne tells his class that he used to work on Wall Street, but he left to become a teacher. Each month, Mr. Browne gives his class a group of precepts to motivate and guide them. The precepts are as follows:

• September: "When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind." -Dr. Wayne Dyer
• October: "Your deeds are your monuments." -Egyptian tomb inscription
• November: "Have no friends not equal to yourself." -Confucius
• December: "Fortune favors the bold." -Virgil
• January: "No man is an island, entire of itself." -John Donne
• February: "It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers." -James Thurber
• March: "Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much." -Blaise Pascal
• April: "What is beautiful is good, and what is good will soon be beautiful." -Sappho
• May: "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can." -John Wesley
• June: "Just follow the day and reach for the sun." -The Polyphonic Spree (rock band)