Jurnalul unui tocilar

Diary of A Nerd #1

by Philip Osbourne, Diana Calangea (Translator), Vidrașcu și fiii (Editor)

Phil are 12 ani și este tipul clasic de tocilar, îndrăgostit în secret de Lauren, pe care ar vrea să o cucerească. Se înscrie la un curs de scrimă și devine campion, moment în care inventează un personaj imaginar, vărul Mike. Mike e puternic, câștigă mereu, Phil e slab și pierde. Dar viețile lor se vor încrucișa tot mai mult, iar eșafodajul minciunilor pe care le spune Phil va deveni extrem de periculos. Două jurnale ținute de același băiat: un mic geniu tocilar și un campion al inimilor.


„Phil e un mare mincinos, dar și un tip foarte deștept, care intră în tot felul de necazuri. Apoi, eu sunt cea care trebuie să-l salveze... OK, recunosc că și gașca lui de tocilari simpatici e mereu alături de el... păcat că sunt atât de aberanți! În acest jurnal Phil vă va povesti aventurile lui incredibile, dar foarte amuzante. O fi Phil cam caraghios, dar un lucru e sigur: cu el nu te plictisești niciodată!“ - Elen, sora lui Phil

Genres: Childrens

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I abso-freaking-lutely love this book!

Never have I felt this understood!

Never have I felt I would read something like this filled with all the nerds as the absolute best nerds in a nerd book!


Never have I felt this proud to read a middle grade book (because obviously no adult book would be this nerdy. I am still waiting for one though).


Never has been there a book on nerds that has been written with all the perfect references (from time immemorial, ok! To the present day TV series nerds! AKA Sheldon Lee Cooper and co!).


This book represents well how kids and people in the past have been obsessed with their 'craziness' that would somehow make them super famous later on. Yes, most people's job is to discourage and call you mad when you try out something new and different.

I also love the social media addiction references.

I love the fictional as well as non-fictional characters mentioned in this short book!

Yes, the format would somehow remind you of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series but these two definitely do not look the same. I personally prefer this presentation.

I love the accurate illustrations on each page relative to the examples mentioned.

I love how unapologetic the character is! Well, we should all be! If I am a nerd, so what? Let's be the best nerds ever!

This book is so damn relatable! I will continue on with this series!

Kudos to the author/artist and the publishing team! I am so looking forward to this!

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Diary of a nerd is a book aimed at 9-11 year old and is in the style format of Diary of a wimpy kid type books.
In this book, the main character (a nerd) has a crush on one of the most popular girls at his school. He tries to impress her by joining the school fencing club and has an outstanding win. He ends up getting a girl who is interested in him for himself and he goes back to his own friends and does the maths championship with them which is something he is more interested in and enjoys more too.
This is a book about being yourself and not trying to change for others.
The illustrations were great but I found the writing fonts too many on every page - Two would of been better on each page.
Children within this age group will definitely connect to the character in this book and situations and thoughts within this book.

[Louise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, this was painfully bad. All of the pop culture references are too old for the character and extremely cringey. Also, this is NOT a graphic novel. It's written a little like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but those books are much more well-written. I feel bad for this author. Don't quit your day job, guy.

[Bexa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Copy provided by publisher through Edelweiss.

This book was written to be the next big series along side DIARY OF A WIMPY KID and BIG NATE, but it is really, really, not.

First, you can obviously tell this is an adult trying to write to what the kids like, but all of the references are for a much older crowd, not only in maturity level, but in current popularity. Big Bang Theory is not something many young boys want to watch, even the most nerdy ones. None of the kids I've talked to know who Edward Scissorhand is, let alone The Goonies, or Back to the Future. If the author has to spend pages explaining the references they are bad references.

Second, the font changes... WHY? All I can think is that there is a kid out there that's got dyslexia, or is a low level reader, and the constant font changes would just distract and discourage them from reading. Once in a while is fine, every other paragraph (or sentence) is not okay.

Third, the characters are 2D and for all the description given by Phil, I couldn't tell you who was who. I was also annoyed that supposedly his little sister is such a financial guru that she's creating crowdfunding campaigns and the parents aren't aware of anything going on because they're too busy making t-shirts and finding aliens.

Fourth, the plot is terrible. Phil likes being a nerd, but is in "love" with a popular girl, and decides to change everything about himself and create a new persona because only cool guys get the girl. (Except, in his favorite show, Big Bang Theory, I'm pretty sure 2 or 3 guys end up with girlfriends/wives). This is a terrible message, and even with the whole, MY LIES CAME TUMBLING DOWN, it doesn't negate the fact that everything still worked out for him in the end and he got an even cooler, prettier girl to like who's also a nerd!

Just not worth the time reading and not worth purchasing.

[Theediscerning · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear. A full quarter of the way through this easy reader and we've had a mess of font changes for no reason, and bugger all plot. If the likes of me can't find any way to engage with this trash, how on earth are reluctant readers, who seem to be the only plausible audience?

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an electronic ARC from Ablaze through Edelweiss+.
A new series for mid to upper elementary level readers. The main character, Phil, really likes one of the popular girls in his school. However, he is a nerd so doesn't think he has a chance. The book is written as his diary so readers see his thoughts as he narrates the action. He has a terrific set of friends who compete for the math championship. However, he wants to impress Lauren so he takes up fencing. To his surprise, he wins and advances to the state championship. To reinvent himself he creates an alter-ego, his cousin Mike, to fence and connect with Lauren. Needless to say, the lies come crashing down on him before the book ends. Still, the story finishes on a positive note with his team winning the math championship and making a connection with a girl who likes him for himself.
Osbourne's style is humorous and realistic. He captures the thought process for this age group and readers will connect with his characters and situations. It's a bit scattered at times but that also connects to this age.

[Misa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This was a diary of a Nerd teen Phill who had a crush on Lauren a beautiful popular girl at his school and due to this crush he found himself going through lie after lie in order to be accepted by her as a cool boy .

This book was full of pop culture references but some of them were for adults like The Big Bang Theory that I can't say that a lot of parents would let their kids watch. This book could be interesting for young adults who might know nothing about Star War and pop culture.
I don't know why being a nerd is still regarded as odd or even bullied. For me nerds are so amazing and exceptional. The world is made of different people with different tastes and interests. Please, don't see nerds as losers because well look at Bill Gates for instance!
I liked the idea of accepting yourself as you are and being proud of who you're as long as you are a good person who doesn't say lies. I loved also what the author said about friendship and that to have 500 friends on Insta or facebook doesn't mean that they are real friends.

[Marte · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Okay, first of all: This is NOT a Graphic Novel. This is just a book with lots of illustrations in it.
Second of all: I have read a few of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and the first of the Dork Diary book. Although the general mode of the book is the same, I find it almost offensive that this is compared to those great books!!! This is not in the same LEAGUE as those.

So, if you noticed my rating you might wonder: what's wrong with it that it makes Marte rate it so poorly? Well, buckle up I guess.
Just generally, it shifts fonts ALL THE TIME, which is not only just annoying in general but also makes it so much heavier to read. I understand that it's probably to make it cooler and more chaotic since it's supposed to be the diary of a 12-year-old, but to this extent and the selection of quite a few annoying fonts, it just made me want to stop reading it after the first few pages. It also REALLY reads like an adult pretending to be a quirky child and also has such pretentious writing. As a nerd myself I was hyped to read this, but it is extremely stereotypical and also instead of empowering nerds it actually just tries putting down everyone that aren't also nerds in the story. Like, it looks down on anything mainstream and social media, keeps being all "Hey I am extremely smart and skilled and everyone else keeps wasting their time on earth, and really I'm the only one that does something that makes sense in life."

Also, the constant references????? I understand the purpose of them, but when whole pages are dedicated to explaining different references it has, and tbh I think that if a reference has to be heavily explained then maybe you should reconsider? But here, since most of them are explained and a lot of space is put aside for it, it creates SO many breaks in the narrative structure that it's just disruptive instead of enriching the story. An example of this is that the actual story doesn't start until page 48!!!!!!! Also, the main character discusses setting up their fake social media account for over 10 pages. It also doesn't help that is is SO packed with throwbacks that it mentioned that it just becomes hard to keep up.

Also, his 8 year old sister is this business savvy kid that likes Forbes magazine and spends all of her money on social media and fashion???? And it puts down their parents as these goons that only cares about mainstream and weird references and aliens and can't keep up with them at all, are you kidding me????

Liked Phil's character development, but it was rough getting there.

[Salomè · Rating 5 out of 5]

ფილიპ ობზონ just მიყვარხარ!!!!!

[Sally Wilsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cute story about Phil the Nerd. He has a fun array of friends in his sister Ellen who is really smart and kind of the boss, George who does not talk much, Nicholas who wears a bag on his head and is love with Dance Ann and Ellens dog Teo Messi. Phil likes the new girl Loren but she is the class bullies girlfriend. Phil does not think he has a chance with Loren until he is visited by Darth Vader who teaches him how to stick up for himself and win over Loren. I do like the references to Big Bang and other characters though I do not know if children now would know who some of them are. I like the different fonts and writing in the book it makes it fun and whimsical. The drawings are very well done. This is a good book for children 10 and up.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diary of a Nerd is a cute comic that my fourth graders would enjoy. I teach a gifted and talented class so my students would relate to being called a “nerd” but unlike Phil are proud of it and embrace this label. I was pleased that Phil’s character developed over the course of the book and he learned the importance of staying true to himself and not trying to be someone else. i liked the message that it is not about the number of friends you have but maintaining friendships with people who understand and respect you for who you really are!

[Joe Bogue · Rating 1 out of 5]

I get that this is for kids, but I think they deserve better reading material. This graphic novel reads like a nerd-culture themed Mad Lib. Then the person illustrated their mad lib to explain how clever their answers were. Except, it's the same thing as explaining a joke makes the joke not funny. So much of this book is dedicated to explaining its own references that the actual storytelling is stunted & sloppy, leading to a slow & boring read.

[Marija P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title says it's a diary of a nerd called Phil. He will introduce us to his group of friends and tell a story about how one lie changed his life. He just wanted to ask his crush on a date. How could that go wrong? It's a fun read and it teaches kids not to lie and not to hide their real personality.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book felt dry and sometimes would jump between the story and a sidenote - which were meant to be context for the nerdy topics but really messes with the flow of the book. Not an awful read despite being outside of the targeted demographic, it's an okay book with nothing too memorable...

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dude knows his tribe and his references....and it’s got fencing. Not sure why I love the faux kid’s homemade graphic novel on lined paper thing so much...

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seems to be all over the place. The author seems to have a hard time staying on track or he needed filler pages.

[Wasan · Rating 4 out of 5]

i've re-read this book maybe 16 times

[Melina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muito bom