The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how literature can serve as a pedagogical tool to foster emotional awareness and empathy among secondary school students in an English as a Foreign Language context. It utilizes an action research approach based on R. J. Palacio’s novel Wonder to design and implement a teaching sequence. The thesis further evaluates the effectiveness of this intervention in supporting students' social-emotional development and self-reflection through the analysis of triangulated research data including questionnaires, essays, and teacher observations.