Worser (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780823449569)

A bullied 12-year-old boy must find a new normal after his mother has a stroke and his life is turned upside down.

William Wyatt Orser, a socially awkward middle schooler, is a wordsmith who, much to his annoyance, acquired the ironically ungrammatical nickname of "Worser" so long ago that few people at school know to call him anything else.

Worser grew up with his mom, a professor of rhetoric and an introvert just like him, in a comfortable routine that involved reading aloud in the evenings, criticizing the grammar of others, ignoring the shabby mess of their house, and suffering the bare minimum of social interactions with others.

But recently all that has changed. His mom had a stroke that left her nonverbal, and his Aunt Iris has moved in with her cats, art projects, loud music, and even louder clothes. Home for Worser is no longer a refuge from the unsympathetic world at school that it has been all his life.

Feeling lost, lonely, and overwhelmed, Worser searches for a new sanctuary and ends up finding the Literary Club--a group of kids from school who share his love of words and meet in a used bookstore- something he never dreamed existed outside of his home. Even more surprising to Worser is that the key to making friends is sharing the thing he holds dearest: his Masterwork, the epic word notebook that he has been adding entries to for years.

But relationships can be precarious, and it is up to Worser to turn the page in his own story to make something that endures so that he is no longer seen as Worser and earns a new nickname, Worder.

A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Editors' Choice Selection

Author: Jennifer Ziegler
ISBN-10: 0823449564
ISBN-13: 9780823449569
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson Books
Language: English
Published: 03/15/2022
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.70w x 1.10d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.2
Point Value: 9
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 522054 / Worser


Review Citation(s):
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 02/01/2022
Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2022
Booklist 02/15/2022 pg. 68
Horn Book Magazine 03/01/2022
Shelf Awareness 03/22/2022
Publishers Weekly 04/04/2022
BookPage 03/01/2022
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2022 - Superior,Well Above Average