Car News

Hello again! I just ran across a book review that I'll quote a couple
of snippets from.

From the plot summary:

"Jessie is somewhat attracted to a nerd boy. As she gets closer to him
and his friends, she is hyper aware she'll be committing social
suicide if she plays Dungeons & Dragons and goes to a renaissance
faire.

(Wait a second, I played Dungeons and Dragons back in the day, what
does that say about me?)"

From the review:

"It is a brutally honest book about high school and the calculus of
popularity that Jessie must make as she ponders where to focus her
social energy and what the cost will be. The book is handled with
nuance and tact and gives a realistic picture of the layers of
popularity and friendship in modern high schools."

The book is _Into the Wild Nerd Yonder_ by Julie Halpern and was
published last year. The full review is at http://www.unshelved.com/2010-6-18#WildNerdYonder
if you'd like to read it.

Has anyone read this book? Does anyone know how it portrays the
gamers? I'm guessing that the message is going to be that gamers are
good people, even if everyone will look at you weirdly for hanging out
with them. While that may be true, it's only true when the gamers are
identifiable and unwanted members of the local population; clearly
none of the gamers are going to also be the star quarterback. If I'm
right about the message, does that hurt our cause more than helping
it?

Sadly, the reviewer is pseudonymous, although I could probably get the
site admin to put me in touch with him if I asked nicely. I get the
impression that Julie herself is rather approachable. (It probably
helps that she and I and the reviewer and the site admin are all
librarians.) From the very bottom of the "About Me" section of her
website:

"I am the Webmaster of this site (I'm also a Dungeon Master on
Wednesday afternoons) [. . .]" (http://juliehalpern.com/about.html)

In service,
M. Alan Thomas II

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