Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Into The Wild Nerd Yonder

Into The Wild Nerd Yonder, Julie Halpern
At 5:30 this Saturday, I walked upstairs and asked the Dude "How do you know when a book was great?" He smirked at me and answered "I'm guessing it's when you just read the whole thing in two hours." He was right. I sat down Saturday afternoon with Into the Wild Nerd Yonder, not knowing what to expect, and was immediately drawn in. The book chronicles' Jessie's sophomore year of high school, when the two best friends she has had since she was a toddler decide they want to become punks and Jessie isn't sure where she fits in any more. Based on that sentence, I'm sure you can tell that this could be just another teen coming of age story, but Julie's character is so clever, funny, and real that it loses any concerns about being cheesy. It is made stronger by the great supporting cast, including her older brother Barrett and her quirky parents. Jessie is smart and enjoys school, but worries about being nerdy, something I could definitely relate to. Is it better to be lonely and unlabeled or throw yourself in with a fun group that others call nerdy? I absolutely adored this book as it is just plain fun. I'll definitely be looking into Halpern's other novels even as I'm busy harassing all of you to read this book!

Borrowed from the library

5 comments:

Melissa said...

I really like how your book selection is so broad. You've convinced me to try the young adult genre :).

Mom said...

This sounds like a must for me. I love nerds :)

ACQ said...

I'm glad to hear it Melissa! I definitely fall into genre ruts sometimes but lately I have been more of a buffet reader. ;-)

newshadeofgreen said...

This sounds like a winner! Why haven't I heard of this one?! I'm adding it to my humongous TBR list now. Thanks!

Elizabeth Neill said...

I really like your blog: it's fresh and unpretentious and varied with beautiful photographs and spiffy design.