Into The Wild Nerd Yonder

High School sophomore Jessie finds herself torn between social cliques in the endearing Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern. Her two (former) best friends have gone punk-rock, while Jessie still prefers to wear her homemade funky skirts. Then one of her friends stabs her in the back by hooking up with her long-time crush. Desperately in need of some better friends, Jessie begins chatting with acknowledged geek Dottie in study hall. The question becomes: If Jessie agrees to help make costumes for Dottie's Dungeons and Dragons group, will she herself also be labeled as a geek? And is that really such a bad thing?

This is a quick, somewhat fluffy read that really appealed to me because of the premise. Heck, I remember being in high school and doing everything I could to hide my own geekiness for fear of being labeled. But what I really enjoyed most about this book was the way that Jessie deals with her changing relationship with longtime-friends Bizza and Char - she knows that they're treating her badly and that she needs to do something about it, but she's also scared to branch out of her comfort zone. Her reactions to this situation are very realistic, making her easy to identify with. It was also kind of nice to see that even though Jessie becomes part of the D&D crowd she doesn't transform overnight - her priority remains her relationship with the other people in the group, not necessarily the game they play. This is a great story about being OK with yourself and with your own interests and finding respect among your peers.

Overall Grade: B+