Warman, Jessica. Breathless.
Walker & Co 2009 311p 16.99 978-0-8027-9849-7 ms/hs Katie loves to swim, in fact it is the only thing that seems to bring calm and meaning into her turbulent home life. But under her popularity at her new boarding school and budding romance, lies a secret that Katie is afraid will tear her newly invented life apart. In this debut novel, Warman establishes herself as a welcome new voice in YA fiction. Katie has a lot on her plate, a schizophrenic older brother who is incarcerated in a prison for the criminally insane, parents who retreat intowork and alcoholism to deal with their problems. When she is sent to a boarding school, she retreats to the one thing that calls her otherwise chaotic life - swimming. She slowly begins to reinvent herself, only to have the secret she so desperately wants to keep (her brother) brought out into the open. Themes of friendship, love and self-worth are woven seemlessly into this coming-of-age, coming-to-grips story that will resonant with older middle school and high school readers. Nominated for 2010 Best Books for Young Adults. Conflict Naismith, Pat
Showing posts with label self_esteem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self_esteem. Show all posts
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Halpern, Julie. Into the Wild Nerd Yonder.
Halpern, Julie. Into the Wild Nerd Yonder.
Feiwel and Friends, 2009 247p 16.99 978-0-312-38252-0 secondary When high school sophomore Jessie's long-term best friend transforms herself into a punk and goes after Jessie's would-be boyfriend, Jessie decides to visit "the wild nerd yonder" and seek true friends among classmates who play Dungeons and Dragons. High school sophomore Jessie Sloan loves math, sews her own unique skirts and has had a longtime crush on one of her older brother’s band-mates. What saves Jessie from the dreaded nerd label is her entree to her brother’s punk rock band. Her two best friends, Bizza and Char, use their friendship with Jessie to become the band’s biggest groupies, with Bizza going so far as to giving Jessie’s crush a blow job and getting an STD from him in return. Realizing that she and her friends have grown apart, Jessie searches for new friends but is dismayed that the group she seems to click with are the Dungeon and Dragon playing nerds and in the social strata of high school, association with them will “further my downward spiral into the position of First Official Dork.” As she tells her father, “I don’t want to be a nerd” and she struggles with the concept of cool and making peace with her inner nerd. She becomes more confused by her attraction to Henry, who wears his pants too short and his gym shoes too white. Jessie’s eye-opening journey from mathlete punky kid sister to Imalthia the D&D fighter who swings a big sword is honest and uncontrived. She is an engaging character, honest, direct and at times confused by the choices she must make. The plot mirrors the search for identity that many teens face in high school, with confusion that sex and alcohol define popularity and an unexpected realization that not all stereotypes are true. Halpern, through Jessie, makes it clear to readers that some choices have disastrous consequences and that in light of that, nerd-dom isn’t so bad after all. Note: brief but frank discussion and language of STD’s and a sex act make this book appropriate for high school readers. Zajko, Rosanne
Feiwel and Friends, 2009 247p 16.99 978-0-312-38252-0 secondary When high school sophomore Jessie's long-term best friend transforms herself into a punk and goes after Jessie's would-be boyfriend, Jessie decides to visit "the wild nerd yonder" and seek true friends among classmates who play Dungeons and Dragons. High school sophomore Jessie Sloan loves math, sews her own unique skirts and has had a longtime crush on one of her older brother’s band-mates. What saves Jessie from the dreaded nerd label is her entree to her brother’s punk rock band. Her two best friends, Bizza and Char, use their friendship with Jessie to become the band’s biggest groupies, with Bizza going so far as to giving Jessie’s crush a blow job and getting an STD from him in return. Realizing that she and her friends have grown apart, Jessie searches for new friends but is dismayed that the group she seems to click with are the Dungeon and Dragon playing nerds and in the social strata of high school, association with them will “further my downward spiral into the position of First Official Dork.” As she tells her father, “I don’t want to be a nerd” and she struggles with the concept of cool and making peace with her inner nerd. She becomes more confused by her attraction to Henry, who wears his pants too short and his gym shoes too white. Jessie’s eye-opening journey from mathlete punky kid sister to Imalthia the D&D fighter who swings a big sword is honest and uncontrived. She is an engaging character, honest, direct and at times confused by the choices she must make. The plot mirrors the search for identity that many teens face in high school, with confusion that sex and alcohol define popularity and an unexpected realization that not all stereotypes are true. Halpern, through Jessie, makes it clear to readers that some choices have disastrous consequences and that in light of that, nerd-dom isn’t so bad after all. Note: brief but frank discussion and language of STD’s and a sex act make this book appropriate for high school readers. Zajko, Rosanne
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