Medical memoirs have an obvious appeal to adult audiences. This tends to be less the case for young readers. The tie to Wonder, though, makes a significant difference in this case. Because it's one thing to read a novel and receive the author's message through the lens of a character's life. It's something else entirely to read a real person's story, to have those same lessons grounded in reality. Nathaniel's medical challenges are more the focus of this book than in the novel. Auggie's challenges were more social. We are able to see Nathaniel as a regular kid, just one with a complicated health history. While it's not an especially intense read it adds some interesting context to what can be a very intense middle grade novel. It serves as a great companion to Palacio's novel.