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Adventures with Scrabble in "Word Nerd"

by Dave Wheeler2/17/2009 3:26:34 PM

Set in the beautiful metropolis of Vancouver, B.C., Susin Nielsen’s new novel for young adults, Word Nerd, is a funny, sharp, and engaging tour of adolescent cheek and optimism.

"Word Nerd" by Susin Nielsen from Tundra Books

Ambrose Bukowski, twelve years old and hopelessly unfit for traditional schools—especially after nearly dying in an incident involving three bullies, a peanut, and a deadly serious peanut allergy—finds himself befriending Cosmo, the ex-burglar and ex-druggie son of his upstairs neighbors, the charming Economopolouses. Together, Ambrose and Cosmo attend a local Scrabble club and eventually compete in an important tournament. All this, mind you, while keeping Ambrose's well-intentioned but over-protective mother in the dark. Gee, sounds a lot like me in junior high.

Surrounding Ambrose’s wild ride of Scrabble, loan sharks, pretty girls, and bullies is a web of lies and half-truths, delicate and seemingly necessary at the time. Ambrose builds fib upon falsehood in order to spend time with Cosmo, someone his mother has strictly forbidden him to see. Meanwhile, Cosmo is trying to redeem himself for past crimes without scaring away the lovely Amanda, director of the local Scrabble club.

Readers might begin to see Ambrose and Cosmo in terms of Scrabble, the choices they make, and the lies they choose to tell as simply anagrams of the letters they’ve been dealt in each situation. While the truth might score them more points in the long run, sometimes, in the heat of a game, you don’t always see the best arrangement of letters. And, just like one wrong move in Scrabble can leave you playing catch-up the rest of the game, a simple lie requires another and another. The two boys finally come clean, but not without learning an important lesson in honesty.

Nielsen’s experience in television writing and adaptation lends her an adept hand to keep Word Nerd moving at an active pace. Readers from early adolescence to well beyond will find Ambrose’s voice genuine, humorous, and charismatic. And those with some knowledge of the greater Vancouver area will be delighted to discover familiar places popping up left and right, as the author herself resides there.

Nielsen will visit Bellingham’s own Village Books on Saturday, February 21, 2009 at 2 PM to discuss Word Nerd and The Magic Beads, a kids’ picture book written by Nielsen and illustrated by Genevieve Cote about a shy girl’s day of Show & Tell at a brand new school. The reading will be an interactive event for kids of all ages, providing an enjoyable afternoon for everyone.

A Note About the Author: Dave Wheeler

Dave Wheeler recently graduated from Western Washington University with a BA in Creative Writing. His poetry has appeared in Western's Jeopardy Magazine and he contributes irregularly to the blog for Village Books, where he works as a bookseller.