Into The Wild Nerd Yonder (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
I totally judged the yellow cover of this book. Into the Wild Nerd Yonder surpassed my expectations and turned out to be an enjoyable read. Jessie is in high school and relies heavily on the popularity of her older brother in order to maintain a social life. When her best friends turn into posers Jessie has to make some life changing decisions. What will people think if she starts to hang out with the nerdiest of nerds? Is she a nerd herself? The language and story plot can be a bit crass making the book less "perfect" or "happy happy" and more realistic. I recommend this book to teens who enjoy realistic fiction about friendship and journeys. Julie Halpern’s "Into the Wild Nerd Yonder" is to parenthesis as Mark Helprin’s "Winter’s Tale" is to thesaurus. Shame on her editor, just down right shame. There were nine sets of parenthesis in two double spaced pages. Nine! It wasn’t even a forgivable one time occurrence, this continued through the entire book. There are even parentheses in the synopsis! Do you know how distracting it is (I went to the grocery store today) to be interrupted in the middle (My cat is named after Fleur Delacour) of every single thought you have for two hundred (Mmmbop) and forty-five pages?! It’s exhausting, confusing, and frankly really obnoxious!This book is not correctly marketed. It has very little to do with the joy of becoming a nerd. In fact, for about 98% of the book the protagonist is judging the nerds and fearing becoming one of them because she doesn’t want people to judge her. I’m sorry, what? Isn’t this supposed to be about nerd pride? I’m offended. Even when she’s welcomed into the world of the nerd she still feels so insecure about going public with her new friendships that she tries to change the boy that welcomed her into nerd-dom. Nope. No. No. You leave nerd boys alone. They are marvelous creatures. Let them be and they will become the best life partners and husbands you could ever ask for. Trust me. Don’t tell them their shoes are too white, that their pants are to short – love them for exactly who they are and they will do the same for you. Being a nerd is more about being safe and secure in who you are, not moving into a social group because your friends ditched you and you have nowhere else to go. Nerd-dom is not a last resort.The book is average. There’s supposed to be a good moral to the story type of spot in the book but it gets muddled by Jessie changing people in her attempt to fit in. There were a couple, “hell yes!” moments when the she handled withering relationships with bad friends, but mostly I was irritated that so much of the book was spent fearing the stigmas of entering The Wild Nerd Yonder instead of basking in the awesomeness.
What do You think about Into The Wild Nerd Yonder (2009)?
Something everyone goes through at a point in life. We fit in more where we are more confortable.
—jyang1107
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! The only thing I regret is that there isn't a sequel!
—MK264
Great book about finding new friends after the old ones were treating you badly.
—jarrydferreira
