From the cover:
"Norris Kaplan is clever, cynical, and quite possibly too smart for his own good. A black French Canadian, he knows from watching American sitcoms that those three things don’t bode well when you are moving to Austin, Texas. Plunked into a new high school and sweating a ridiculous amount from the oppressive Texas heat, Norris finds himself cataloging everyone he meets: the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Making a ton of friends has never been a priority for him, and this way he can at least amuse himself until it’s time to go back to Canada, where he belongs.
Yet, against all odds, those labels soon become actual people to Norris. Be it loner Liam, who makes it his mission to befriend Norris, or Madison the beta cheerleader, who is so nice that it has to be a trap. Not to mention Aarti the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who might, in fact, be a real love interest in the making. He even starts playing actual hockey with these Texans.
But the night of the prom, Norris screws everything up royally. As he tries to pick up the pieces, he realizes it might be time to stop hiding behind his snarky opinions and start living his life—along with the people who have found their way into his heart."
I picked this book up after a friend recommended it, and I'm glad she suggested I read it, both because it's a great book and because I might have given up on it otherwise. Weird dichotomy, right? Yeah, well...I'm a weird person. In fairness, I wouldn't say I considered giving up on it because of any true flaws on the book's part. It was more because it's summer, I'm a children's librarian, and as such I have been S O B U S Y S O T I R E D O M G FUCK.
When I have time I like to treat reading like bingewatching a show on Netflix...coffee, snacks, cozy spot on the couch, read all day. That's my jam. When you don't have a full day to devote to reading, you have to resort to stealing moments to read a chapter here and a chapter there, and when that happens...sometimes it's harder to get into a new book. Like this one. Because look...let's just say it...
Norris Kaplan is not a likable character! He's hella snarky, judgmental, and he bases way more of his first impressions of people on high school movie stereotypes than he should. Perhaps in his head he is the misunderstood new kid loner, but in real life...dude is kind of a bully. BUT! This is why for certain books having the time for a binge read is important. Because...
Much like IRL teenagers, Norris grows and changes! It has been a while since I graduated high school, but this book felt so true to my teenage experience. I've been there, Norris. I too spent a lot of my high school years feeling like a misunderstood outsider, being so overly prepared for how other people might react to me that I was too ready with the snarky quips and ended up coming off as a dick because I was so afraid that people were going to be horrible to me that I was horrible to them first. It isn't easy being the new person, the different person, the person who doesn't already have a friend group, and while it was tough at first adjusting to Norris's inner (and often outer) critiques, he learns a lot of lessons throughout the course of the book and comes out of it a better person. As a bonus, the closer I got to the end the more nervous I was that it would wrap up superduper neatly and end too perfectly, but I was pleasantly surprised. This might be one of my favorite endings to a book ever.
I do have one question after finishing reading this book, and it is this: Do the teens of today watch movies like The Mighty Ducks? Don't get me wrong, they should. It may just be nostalgia speaking, but the movies of my childhood were wonderful. That said...do they?
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