A perfectly normal child, except for his congenital facial deformity.
The tumultuous school adjustment period of ten-year-old August Pullman!

August, the protagonist of this work, was born with a congenital facial deformity.
When he was born, he was told that he would have difficulty surviving the night, but he bravely survived, undergoing twenty-seven surgeries by the age of ten.
However, because of his hideous face, he is called by many nicknames such as monster, mutant, nausea inducer, Gollum, and orc.
Anyone who sees that face once will have nightmares.
So, to avoid the prying eyes of people, I wore an astronaut helmet for two years.
But August is an ordinary boy in every way except his face.
A perfectly normal kid who loves [Star Wars] and Xbox, is loved by his family, eats ice cream, and rides his bike.
August's only wish is to have an ordinary face like everyone else.


One day, a big change comes to August, who was unable to go to school because of his unusual face and was homeschooled.
I entered school for the first time in my life due to my parents' decision that I could not grow up only under their protection.
But school children easily judge others just by looking at their faces.
Just by looking at August's face, they avoid him, calling him a monster and a germ that spreads infectious diseases.
That's why I can't see the true face hidden behind August's face.
What a smart kid August is, what a funny kid he is, what a sensitive kid he is.


★Don't judge a person by their appearance!
A piece that provides a topic for discussion about judging people by their appearance!

"Beautiful Child" is a story told from the perspectives of six people, including the main character, August, and five characters (Via, Summer, Jack, Justin, and Miranda) who orbit the sun called August.
It may seem complicated at first glance, but because August's story forms a large plot, it doesn't feel distracting at all. In fact, the events that appeared in the beginning are re-told from someone else's perspective, creating unexpected twists and piques the reader's curiosity, which becomes the key to making the book an exciting read.
Above all, readers are amazed by the author's ability to empathize with the positions of all six people.

And, despite its length, it is easy for children to read, as it uses an easy writing style centered around short episodes, and realistically depicts stories that could happen to people of the same age, sufficiently eliciting empathy from readers.
Furthermore, it is a work that stands out for its realistic and complex characters, such as August's older sister Viana and his friend Jack, who are not simply divided into good and evil, but sometimes conflict and betray each other.


It is also a work that contains many topics for thought and discussion, such as lookism, disability and prejudice, and 'Mr. Brown's Quotations', which the English teacher in the work gave as essay topics every month for a year.


A New York Times and Time Best Book! An Amazon bestseller for 10 consecutive years!
A beautiful story that touched the hearts of readers in 50 countries around the world!

"Beautiful Child" has been on the bestseller list in the United States for over ten years since its publication.
But the surprising thing is that this work was created by a current graphic designer, R.
It is said to be J. Palacio's debut work.
It is probably rare for a debut work to deliver such a powerful punch.
That is why this work has been published under contract in 50 countries around the world, captivating the hearts of readers.


The author said that he was inspired to write this piece after seeing a girl who looked like August in front of an ice cream shop, just like the scene in the piece where Jack first meets August.
At the time, the author, like Veronica, Jack's nanny, had two children with her, and she said she had no choice but to hurriedly leave the place in a stroller because her son burst into tears in shock at the sight of the girl's face.
And on the way back, I happened to hear Natalie Merchant's song "Miracle" and this story naturally came to mind. In a way, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the birth of this story itself was a "miracle."