"The Summer I Became a Nerd" by Leah Rae Miller
Blog Post by Natasha S
"The Summer I Became a Nerd" by Leah Rae Miller is about a girl named Maddie. Maddie is one of the "popular" girls. She has lots of friends and a boyfriend, Eric. When summer comes around, Maddie always looks for the new comic books, especially the series, The Super Ones. When book number 400 comes out, Maddie can't wait to get her hands on it and read it. No one knows that Maddie is a comic book nerd, so she goes in with a disguise. When she gets to the comic book store, she asks for #400. The boy at the counter looks familiar, and she recognizes him as a boy from school, Logan. She panics that he recognizes her, and when he looks behind her, she's confused. He says that they don't have any left, but then she sees a copy of it right next to him. When Maddie asks for it, he says that it's his copy, but he finally gives it to her, as well as his number so she can return it. She gets suddenly nervous when she starts to think more and more about him, not just about how he's 'adorkable' but also how he's nice and caring.
At the prologue of the story, it explains Maddie's past life, where everyone knew her as a comic book nerd. She had a double-life after that, after the bullying, after the teasing. No one had known about her love for comic books except for now, Logan.
She still has Eric as her boyfriend. When Eric goes to Florida for vacation, Maddie and Logan start hanging out more and more. He tells her that the reason he looked behind her that first day in the comic books store was because he had always sat behind her in English class and to make sure it was Maddie, he had to look at her hair. Logan has a show on the radio, "Logan's Show of Awesome." They are both comic book nerds and they have an interest in hobby. When Logan invites Maddie to go to the NerdCon, an event once a year where everyone dresses up as their favorite comic book characters and acts like them, she gladly and eagerly accepts. They go to many other comic book events together, including one where Maddie dresses up as Laowyn and Logan as Graffin. On Maddie's character card, the card that says who you're friends with, your powers, etc., it says 'Laowyn is in a relationship with Graffin.,' She soon realizes that she likes him and she knows the right thing to do is to either push Logan away or break up with Eric. She knows she cares for Logan more, and so she breaks up with Eric. She and Logan like each other a lot, but Maddie's still hesitant to show that they are more than friends in public, because if her image. Logan's upset at that because he believes that an image isn't enough to break off love. When Eric invites Maddie to lunch, she thinks it's just a friendly lunch. When they get there, Eric holds her hand, and suddenly Logan's there. He's furious and he and Eric have a fight. Maddie's confused because she broke it off with Eric and now he's calling her 'his girl.' She has officially pushed Logan away, and he won't even talk to her. She's alone. She later comes up with the perfect plan to at least let Logan know that she wants him and she broke it off with Eric before the lunch disaster. She forms a plan with Logan's mom. What will happen to Logan and Maddie? Will they date or be forever enemies? Read, "The Summer I Became a Nerd" by Leah Rae Miller to find out!
The type of reader that would enjoy this book is anyone who likes a story revolving around a character's internal and conflicting feelings. This book had suspense, romance, and emotions. Emotions are a big part in this book. Maddie's emotions were what created the conflict, which was what the story revolved around. Maddie's emotions were created as if it was another character, one that created problems around Maddie and Logan.
The author makes good use of Maddie's feeling because it makes you feel like you can relate to Maddie and her feelings because everyone feels conflict between situations.
The theme of, "The Summer I Became a Nerd" by Leah Rae Miller is inner versus outer strength. Maddie had lack of inner strength because she didn't want everyone to know she was a "comic book nerd" and on the outside she looked like a "popular" girl, even though she had a big internal conflict. This quote explains the theme well, "What's wrong with me? One second, I'm concerned about whether or not someone will see my name in his phone contacts, and next, I want to strangle Dan for interrupting what could have been the hottest, nerd-boy kiss of my life. I have a boyfriend. A boyfriend who wouldn't like me kissing another guy. Probably." (Miller, 21%). This quote shows that Maddie likes Logan more than a friend enough to want to kiss him, but then she has internal conflicts about Eric because she's not even sure if he would care if she kissed another boy.
I would rate this book a 5/5 stars because once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. It is one of those books that if you feel like you have to know what happens next. It had a good theme and I could relate to what was happening with Maddie's feelings.
