Jessie is a girl who doesn't really like her friends. At least, she doesn't really like what her friends have turned into, because somewhere between Freshman and Sophomore year, her two best friends, Bizza and Char, have transformed themselves into wanna-be punks -- multicolored dreads, shaved heads and combat boots. Jessie has no desire to be a punk poser, drinking bad coffee in the smoking section at Denny’s; she'd rather listen to audio books and work on her collection of whimsical skirts. Bizza and Char seem to want to spend more time with the band that Jessie’s brother plays with than with Jessie. Things don't come to the breaking point till Bizza "hooks up" with the guy that Jessie has been crushing on for years. Finally breaking free of the "posuerettes" puts Jessie on the lookout for new friends, and finds them in the local D&D players. But will hanging with the nerds make her a nerd too? And does it matter if it does?
I really liked Jessie. She seems like the kind of girl I'd like to hang out with, and she has excellent taste in books. Plus, she made herself a skirt with Wonder Woman on it, which I now totally covet. Julie just seems very comfortable in her life, and has great relationships with her brother and parents. As an adult I was annoyed with her preoccupation with looking like a nerd. However, I know that being "cool" is something that takes up a lot of teenager's mental energy, so Halpern probably got that right. What I really liked was how excited Jessie was about D&D, how much she enjoyed the game. Role playing isn't an area of the geek forest that I ever really explored much, but anyone who's watched as much Doctor Who or read as many comics books as I have has no right to judge anybody. One thing I do wish is that this book has a better cover. For some reason, this one reminds me of paper dolls.
1 comment:
I enjoyed this book, but I felt that not enough time was spent on the details of the D&D games.
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