Into the Wild Nerd Yonder - by Julie Halpern (Paperback)

About the Book

Things are changing fast for high school sophomore Jessie, and she needs new friends. Her quest is a hilarious tour through high school clique-dom, with a surprising stop along the way--the Dungeons & Dragons crowd, who outnerd everybody.

Book Synopsis

Punks, Poseurs, and Pervs--Just Another Day at High School

Jessie is so excited to start her sophomore year of high school, with her carefully planned outfits and her ample stash of school supplies. But things take an unexpected turn when everyone in her life changes. Her two best friends have gone poseur-punk and are both flirting with her longtime crush. Her beloved older brother is about to go off to college--and he shaved his Mohawk and started dating the homecoming queen. Jessie is suddenly clique-less. When she starts chatting up a girl in homeroom, she's surprised by an invite to join the Dungeons and Dragons crowd! Will hanging out with them make her a nerd? And when she sees how cute one of their members is, does it really matter?

Review Quotes

"The relationships and dialogue ring true; readers navigating the stratified social structures of high school will relish an ending that celebrates true friendship." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Readers will both identify with and like Jessie and will cheer her conversion from meek to outspoken." --Kirkus Reviews

"Reinvention is rarely so delightfully nerdy." --Booklist

"This novel is particularly strong in showing how teen friendships evolve and sometimes die away, and how adolescents redefine themselves." --School Library Journal

"Witty" --Horn Book Review

". . . funny, easygoing prose . . . an appealingly comic cousin of Carolyn Mackler's The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things." --Kirkus on Get Well Soon

"I completely fell in love with Anna Bloom's voice--it's wry, romantic, and so, so true." --Gabrielle Zevin, author of Elsewhere on Get Well Soon

"Engaging . . . real . . . refreshing, and natural, and the descriptions of the situations are hilarious!" --TeenReads.com on Get Well Soon

"This book is hilarious, refreshing, honest and AWESOME!" --Elise, age 14 on Get Well Soon

"Witty, sarcastic, and drop-dead hilarious . . . this book made me laugh the most out of any book I have EVER read." --Jason, age 14 on Get Well Soon

About the Author

Julie Halpern is the author of Get Well Soon and Don't Stop Now, as well as the picture book Toby and the Snowflakes. In addition to writing, Julie is a middle-school librarian. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, lived in Australia for six months, and created a couple of zines before she started writing books, and realized she was and always has been a writer. She is married to the artist Matthew Cordell, and they live outside Chicago with their daughter and gloriously large Siamese cat, Tobin.