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  • On a scale of 1-10, this book is a d20|Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

    On a scale of 1-10, this book is a d20|Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

    6 comments on On a scale of 1-10, this book is a d20|Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

    Even though Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern is a young adult novel, I’m glad I read it as an adult instead of as a teenager. I don’t think I would have appreciated it as much as I do now because I wouldn’t have been able to get over the “labels”. I went to a big high school, you see; cliques were very prominent, and it was important to immerse yourself in one unless you wanted to be ostracized. My kin were the geeks– the band geeks, the gamer geeks, the Anime/Manga nerds, the AP kids (back when you had to be in the top 15% of the class to take Advance Placement classes [honors English ain’t got nothin’ on us!]). For some reason, this gave us a pass to eat lunch with the goth kids or the punk kids (or at least talk to them in the lunch line). Basically, we were an amalgamation of losers, and we were quite proud of that. So…needless to say, this book kind of resonated with me.

    Intothe Wild Nerd YonderInto the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

    Released: September 2009
    Publisher: Feiwal & Friends
    Add to Goodreads
    ★★★★☆

    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?

    Jessie’s voice was legit

    I don’t know how Halpern does it, but she seems to channel the voice of a fifteen year old girl with ease. It’s like she dug through all of my diaries and wrote what it was like to be me. Like, she hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to be infatuated with someone your parents would never approve of (for example, David J., the pale kid with the [stupid] devilock that Bianca and I would inconspicuously stare at from across the outdoor cafeteria during lunchtime…until he dropped out of school) or what it’s like to watch your friends transform into someone you barely recognize (like the first day of 11th grade when Crystal H. dyed her hair black, shaved off her eyebrows, and replaced her Hurley and Billabong clothing with a wardrobe exclusively from Hot Topic [back when they sold counter-culture clothing, not the pop culture clothing they sell now] and started listening only to HIM [Won’t you die tonight for love/Baby join me in death]).

    Best sibling relationship ever!

    Jessie and Barrett are amazing. There is no sibling rivalry. They just love each other and have a mutual respect for each other, and it shows. PLUS, THE KRISPY KREME DONUT SCENE IS THE BEST!!!

    This book almost feels like historical fiction

    Only because the smoking section at Denny’s doesn’t even exist in most states now.

    I didn’t really understand Jessie’s aversion to Nerdom though

    Maybe it’s just a weird timing issue here, but…I thought Nerd was the new black. Like, being a Nerd back in 2004 wasn’t social suicide (or maybe it was, and that’s why I didn’t have very many friends?), so I can’t imagine it was social suicide in 2009. And nowadays, Nerdom is embraced. Praised. Promoted. Or maybe it’s just me. Like…why didn’t anyone ever invite me to play D&D when I was in high school?!

    Overall, Into the Wild Nerd Yonder was an excellent read. So excellent I finished it in one sitting, which rarely happens. So basically, I think you need to read this book ASAP!

    What high school clique did you belong to back in the day? And, obviously it’s been a while since I was a high schooler myself, so do cliques even exists anymore?

  • Summer Mornings with Pique Tea

    Summer Mornings with Pique Tea

    5 comments on Summer Mornings with Pique Tea

    This morning was a get-up-and-go kind of morning. A who-has-time-to-let-the-coffee-brew kind of morning. A it’s-too-hot-for-coffee-anyway kind of morning. So I grabbed my Harry Potter travel mug, brewed myself some iced English Breakfast tea from Pique Tea (in a matter of seconds, mind you), selected a summertime read, and set out to find the perfect reading spot.

    One of the best things about living next to a school (aside from getting to hear the marching band practice when Autumn falls upon us, which makes my heart swell with nostalgia) is the abundance of perfect summertime reading spots. Especially the school I live next to since it’s a cluster of schools– an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school– with a sprawling campus with walking paths, athletic fields, and benches galore.

    Also, it has swing sets, which admittedly was my first stop.

    After meandering past locked-up baseball diamonds, the running track with early morning ramblers, and the tennis courts with old men hollering after renegade, fluorescent yellow tennis balls, I finally found my perfect summer reading spot– a yellow bench near a mostly abandoned soccer field, save for a few fat, bumbling bees in a sea of sweet, red clovers.

    I unfortunately grossly underestimated the intensity of the 8:00 morning sun though. I knew today was going to be a scorcher by Michigan standards (90 degrees with just a few cotton ball clouds in the sky), but I didn’t expect a blazing sun so early. Needless to say, my tea didn’t even last until the end of the first short story in Summer Days and Summer Nights. Next time I’ll be more prepared; I’ll bring along an extra bottle of water and extra sachets of Pique Tea crystals (and then, with a few shakes of my travel mug, I can pretty much brew myself refreshing tea anywhere).

  • How Does a Flying Goat Dance? | Little is Left to Tell by Steven Hendricks

    How Does a Flying Goat Dance? | Little is Left to Tell by Steven Hendricks

    5 comments on How Does a Flying Goat Dance? | Little is Left to Tell by Steven Hendricks

    I sense that reviews for Little is Left to Tell by Steven Hendricks are going to be…quite polar. There will be readers who grant this novel copious amounts of stars for its beautifully written prose. For being challenging and complex. For being a masterful blend of reality and the surreal. Then, there will be readers who just leave the stars on the table as they stare at a blank screen thinking, “What the hell did I just read?” and “I don’t have any words to express what I’ve just experienced because the rabbit named Hart Crane ate them all.” Folks…I am the latter.

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  • Five Reasons Why You Should Read Ms Marvel, Vol. 2: Generation Why

    Five Reasons Why You Should Read Ms Marvel, Vol. 2: Generation Why

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    Ms Marvel and Bat GirlA few years ago, I was invited to volunteer at Trunk or Treat with an old high school buddy of mine. The theme was “Superheroes”, so the gymnasium of her church was crawling with DC and Marvel characters. She was Batgirl, I was Ms Marvel, and there was even a special appearance by Superbaby. But, I have to admit, I felt like a fraud because I hadn’t actually read a Ms Marvel comic. Ever.

    I ended up purchasing and reading a copy of Ms Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson, and I was in total awe. She was this nerdy, Pakistani-American teenager grappling not only with her identity as an American and a person of color but also with her newly discovered super power. It was a more powerful story than I could have expected, and I so terribly wanted to read on in this comic series.

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  • Girl Power! And Other Renegade Ideas | Rebel Sisters by Marita Conlon-McKenna

    Girl Power! And Other Renegade Ideas | Rebel Sisters by Marita Conlon-McKenna

    4 comments on Girl Power! And Other Renegade Ideas | Rebel Sisters by Marita Conlon-McKenna

    Upon finishing Rebel Sisters by Marita Conlon-McKenna, I was filled with regret that I didn’t pay better attention in the British Literature class I took my sophomore year of college. The class surveyed Romantic, Victorian, and Modern literature. I happily devoured Romantic literature, which was a reaction to the Industrial Revolution and Age of Enlightenment, and it celebrated nature, spirituality, individuality, creativity, and purity. It’s something that resonated with me, and now that I think about it, that’s probably why I’m so keen on the Steampunk subculture; it seems to celebrate many of the same things. Victorian literature and Modern literature? Puh! That stuff could hardly hold my attention. And…now I find that unfortunate because we definitely studied the Irish identity in Modern literature, and that is a major theme in Rebel Sisters. While I enjoyed this novel, I feel I could have experience a different plane of appreciation had I just applied myself a little harder in that class.

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About the Blogger

My name is Jackie, and I am a millennial / mother / Michigander / blogger / wannabe runner / accountant / local library enthusiast / gamer, kinda. This is a personal blog, which means I’m not entirely certain what you’ll find here, but it will definitely not show up on the first page of Google search results.