Review-Into The Wild Nerd Yonder

INTO THE WILD NERD YONDER

2011
272 Pages
Summary Taken from Barnes and Noble website:
It’s Jessie’s sophomore year of high school. A self-professed “mathelete,” she isn’t sure where she belongs. Her two best friends have transformed themselves into punks and one of them is going after her longtime crush. Her beloved older brother will soon leave for college (and in the meantime has shaved his mohawk and started dating . . . the prom princess!)
Things are changing fast. Jessie needs new friends. And her quest is a hilarious tour through high-school clique-dom, with a surprising stop along the way—the Dungeons and Dragons crowd, who out-nerd everyone. Will hanging out with them make her a nerd, too? And could she really be crushing on a guy with too-short pants and too-white gym shoes?
If you go into the wild nerd yonder, can you ever come back?
My Thoughts:
This was a cute, quick book with a great message.
Jess is starting her sophomore year of high school. Over the summer she developed a love for sewing and audio books. Unfortunately her long time best friends are going in a different direction. Jess finds herself at a place where she can choose to be follower and keep the friends she has always had-even if it means sacrificing her new found interests. Or she can choose to hang out with a new group of people and step out of her comfort zone.
What I loved about this book:
I could very much relate to what Jess was going through. I think anyone who survived that evil thing called High School can relate to this story. We out grow friends, find new interests and sometimes have to make some tough choices of which direction we want to go. When is it time to leave the friends that aren't traveling the same path behind?
What I disliked about this book:
I can't think of anything off the top of my head.
Would I recommend this book to friends:
Yes! Especially friends with daughters! Like I said before it's a very relate able story for teens and adults.
There are a few mature themes that include oral sex and STDs which I think would give a mom and daughter an opportunity to talk about these subjects.
I will definitely be on the look out for more books by Julie Halpern.