geektastic

Title: Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd
Editors: Holly Black & Cecil Castellucci
Genre: Anthology, Young Adult
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – ARC

Summary:
Shining a light on geekery at it’s finest Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci have collected approximately fifteen stories to include in Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd.  Showcasing a myriad of perspectives the authors provide readers perspective into the lives of kids who populate what is considered the least popular crowd at school.

Including work by authors such as Libba Bray, John Green and David Levithan it is impossible to summarize all stories in one review.  Below is a showcase of several stand outs:

One of Us by Tracy  Lynn
Popular, perky, blonde cheerleader  Montgomery needs to be educated in the art of geekery pronto.  Afraid of being unable to connect with her jock boyfriend Ryan she rushes to the local dork squad to be schooled in all things Lord of the Rings, comic books, and weird special interest convention stuff.

Rising to the challenge a group of misfits take Monty on and show her the ropes.  Each specializing in some area — movies, literature, television and comics – the geeks heartily welcome her into their club.  Spending weeks teaching and quizzing her they watch as the cheerleader slowly slips from the queen bee of misery they’d perceived her to be into an accepted member of their group.

One of Us ultimately allows readers to take part in a heartwarming story of expanding horizons and finding friendship in unlikely and unexpected places.

I Never by Cassandra Clare
Ever want to be someone you’re not?  Well Jane didn’t until she was drawn into the world of an online roll playing game by her friend Lisle.  Taking on the identity of her favorite literary heroine Catherine Earnshaw.  Not immediately taking to the online environment Jane meets her Heathcliff in Ben.

Ben (as Heathcliff) has sent her flowery letters and shared personal stories and seemingly loving moments with his Cathy.  As star-crossed as their literary counterparts Jane reluctantly agrees to attend a weekend meetup with a group of the roll players including Ben and a friend.  Unfortunately, once there reality quickly overcomes the happy fallacy she’d been living when her original negative perceptions of the game were realized.  Ben is not necessarily what he has made himself out to be through his online persona.

In a series of mortifying and humiliating events Jane navigates her way through befriending and observing a diverse group of misfits until she finds happiness online and off.

Further stories exemplify any number of additional situations in Quiz Bowl Antichrist romantic entanglements of all persuasions seep through a small team of quiz bowlers.  In The Stars at the Finish Line intellectual competition turns a one sided crush into a blooming romance as two students set out to both be the best in the same subject.

Thematic elements in this anthology also include bulling, mockery persecution, class structure, sexuality, independent thought and peer pressure and other issues children of the perceived geekish class in high school are asked to endure and overcome.

Opinion:
Who says nerds and geeks are out of style?  Certainly not Black and Catellucci as they’ve done an amazing job of collecting stories that highlight the  dorkdom of quiz bowl athletes, nerd quotient of roll playing gamers, and flighty disinterest of a popular princess prom queen turning to the dark side and befriending a loveable group of losers.

While it is difficult to provide a succinct summary of this book or review its many stories with great detail it is safe to say that there truly is something for everyone in this collection.   As a reader I did not enjoy every story, in fact I skipped over a couple entirely, but the majority were entertaining, enlightening and heart-warming.   I mean, honestly, we’ve all been through high school and most of us have also felt periods of inadequacy so I doubt there isn’t at least some small something somewhere in these stories that a reader won’t relate to.

Though difficult to read at times stories surrounding the persecution of teens for being different (Lyga’s The Truth About Dino Girl for example) all seemed quite realistic to me.  High school is a brutal place where kids who are different are treated like social pariah and even worse abused mentally and physically.  This issue is addressed in multiple ways in multiple stories — from the dork subtly changing their own lives to fit in with a more mainstream crowd or by acts of revenge that turn the nerd into a bully themselves.

All in all I would recommend this book to anyone who finds different types of culture interesting or engaging.  I admit I do not have a great deal of knowledge of much in the way of roll playing games, quiz bowls, or other such thinky and different past times but I walked away from these stories a better person for having learned more.