R.J. Palacio’s ‘Pony’ to be published in September

NEW YORK (AP) — R.J. Palacio’s next book is a world apart from her million-selling debut “Wonder.” Random House Children’s Books announced Thursday that Palacio’s “Pony” will be published Sept. 28, with an announced first printing of 500,000 copies. The story of a young boy’s “harrowing yet distinctively beautiful journey” in the mid-1800s, “Pony” is Palacio’s first novel that doesn’t feature characters from “Wonder,” a contemporary story of a fifth-grader with a disfigured face that was inspired in part by the Natalie Merchant song of the same name. “Wonder” came out in 2012 and is the basis for a handful of spinoffs.