Michael Buckley, the author of the Sisters Grimm series of books that R. loves (note to self: really must read at least the first in the series to see what is so engaging about it), is coming out with a new series of books for boys (Sept. 09) that will likely be right up W.'s alley. It is called NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society and stars some nerdy kids whose attributes make them James Bond-esque. Totally W.'s thing. And in today's special edition Shelf Awareness, Buckley says something that I wish I could make W. believe. When speaking on the seed for the idea for the book, Buckley said "I went to my 20th high school reunion [and] noticed that all the popular kids were out of shape, miserable and divorced. The nerds had become amazing people--running companies, married to supermodels, they went on amazing vacations. I thought, I wish someone had told me in fifth grade that this is how it would turn out, that your day in the sun is coming." I suspect it's not the telling that is important but the getting that poor bullied fifth (or sixth in W.'s case) grader to truly believe in Buckley's comment or a scaled down version--no supermodel wives here please. I'm the best looking woman in my son's life at the moment and have no desire to end up being the frumpy, dumpy mother-in-law to some gorgeous, otherwordly beauty but that's neither here nor there. One quibble about the title of the book. I get that this is a cutesy play on words but can a truly nerdy child who is engrossed in the book take this into school and not suffer the emotional scarring a good bullying causes? My guess is no. Love the concept and will be buying W. the book when it comes out but will hope like crazy that he leaves it at home and chooses something else to read at school.
I understand your concern but don't think it will be a big problem. After all "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" sold something like 16 million copies. The words "diary" and "wimpy" didn't put off any kids from bringing it to school!
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