ALBANY, P.E.I. – It was the best letter Lucas Jeffrey ever received.
“Lucas, come here, look what I’ve got for you,” his mom, Rachel, said to him with an envelope tucked behind her back.
Lucas went to her and as his mom revealed the envelope, he erupted with laughter.
Two days later, he is still beaming with smiles, reading the letter over and over again.
Lucas, a Grade 3 student at Amherst Cove Consolidated School in Borden-Carleton, recently read the book “Wonder” with his class.
“Wonder,” by R.J. Palacio, is about a young boy named Auggie Pullman who was born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, which causes facial deformities of the ears, eyes, cheekbones and chin. The story follows Auggie through his entry into the fifth grade and trying to convince his classmates that he is just like them.
Lucas kept this photo of Nolan Faber folded up in his pocket. Faber has Treacher Collins Syndrome.
After finishing the novel, Lucas learned the beloved book was being adapted into a movie.
“I was scrolling through the movie trailers on YouTube one day and I was bored because I had seen them so many times. Then I found a YouTube channel about a little boy with the same disability as Auggie.
Immediately, Lucas felt a bond with the young boy on screen, a real life Auggie, named Nolan Faber.
“For weeks he was talking about ‘Wonder’ and then he would go to bed and lie there and say ‘Mom I can’t fall asleep. All I can do is sit here and think about Nolan.’ It took me a few weeks to realize he was talking about a real person, not just the character from the book.
“Then he told me he wanted to write a letter, but I thought he meant to the actor who plays Auggie. Finally I understood that he meant the little boy he had been watching YouTube,” explained Rachel.
So Rachel searched Instagram for Nolan’s profile. Eventually she saw his mothers and messaged her to say that Lucas was interested in being Nolan’s friend and wanted to write him a letter.
“She sent me their address, they live in Oregon. We mailed Lucas’s letter about three weeks ago. I never expected we’d get one back this quickly.”
Lucas smiled, “I knew he would reply. I want to be his friend and he knows I won’t turn my back on him.”
In Lucas’s original letter he told Nolan that he hopes to meet him so they can play Super Mario (Nolan’s favourite game) and play outside.
“I wanted to write him a letter because I felt sad that people might make fun of him or bully him like they do to Auggie. I wanted him to know he had a friend. I want to be his pen pal.”
In his reply, Nolan said he would love to be pen pals and hopes they get the chance to play Super Mario together someday.
“It’s really exciting that I got his letter. I’m going to write another one,” said Lucas.
Rachel is proud her son has shown such kindness in the face of bullying.
“There’s no other word to use besides proud. But I’m also humbled to know he had this drive to write a letter to a young boy he’s never met but has touched his heart from the start.
“It’s really shown him that bullying isn’t nice. I hope people take that away from our story. Because ‘Wonder’ shows what bullying can do to the children but also to the parents. It isn’t a nice thing.”
Lucas agreed, “I would never want to hurt someone and be mean to them. You hurt their feelings and make them cry. Sometimes I cry when I watch Nolan’s videos because I don’t like the idea of him getting hurt.”
He added, “Everyone should be kind and have a standing ovation in their life at least once.”
What to know about “Wonder”:
– Jacob Tremblay plays Auggie Pullman
– The novel was written by R.J. Palacio
– Pullman has Treacher Collins Syndrome, a genetic deformity of the ears, eyes, cheeks and chin
– Saturday Show times in Charlottetown: 1:20, 4:05, 7:00, and 9:50p.m.
– Sunday Show times in Charlottetown: 1:20, 4:05, 6:45 and 9:50 p.m
