Better Nate Than Ever (2013)

Fun and funny book about Nate who runs away from home to audition for ET, The Musical, on Broadway. He is only to be gone overnight but it seems the team for ET is not done with him.

I chuckled throughout this book. Nate has such a dry sense of humor and has a delivery that makes him one of the funniest characters I have read. I loved him. I also liked how he gives us glimpses into his life without pulling us out of the immediate story in which he is involved. I enjoyed Libby, his best friend. She was his straight sidekick. She watched out for him. His glimpses into life in New York was so refreshing. It was nothing like Jankburg, his home town.

I look forward to reading the rest of the series. There are a few questions left open and I want answers. ( )

Oh my god, what an adorable book.

One thing that I love about middle grade is the larger-than-life characters. I mean, not that you can't have them in other age groupings/genres, but... think about Ramona Quimby or Junie B Jones, and tell me you don't feel something for how perfectly dramatic and intense and REAL their childhoods were.

Same goes with Nate. With his big dreams, his love of musical theatre, and a heck of a lot of nerve, he's one of those unforgettable characters.

The kind that makes you think about when YOU were a kid and you lived and breathed the Phantom of the Opera for like a year and thought you were going to play the Phantom on Broadway even though you were a girl and couldn't sing that well. (...oh wait, is that just me? Okay then.)

This is one of those books I wish I'd had back then, for so many reasons.

And plus, because I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this, the fact that this is LGBT middle grade fiction is basically the best thing ever. There's not a lot of LGBT MG out there, so the fact that we get such a positive story, and such a brilliant character is... well, it's awesome. ( )

Nate is a teen who is bullied incessantly at school. He also dreams of Broadway stardom. As a way of escaping the bullying and his humdrum life in a small town in western Pennsylvania, Nate plans to "borrow" his mother's ATM card and escape to New York. Since bullying is an issue of concern in schools, Federle's novel will likely resonate with students whose experiences are similar to Nate's.

Nate and his best friend Libby conceive of a plan for Nate to head to New York City to try out for ET the musical. The adventure takes him on an amazing road trip as a 13 year old on his own. He gets to meet his estranged aunt who is also a struggling actress and her best friend Freckles.
While his friend covers for him for awhile, eventually the rouse runs out when Nate gets a series of call backs and doesn't come home as planned. Nate is awkward, likable, really tough on himself, and doing the work to try to figure out just who he is. Life in his small Pennsylvania town is tough and he feels like he might just find his place in the world if he could be somewhere like New York. ( )

Laugh out loud funny! For example, "and here I am, staring into a dressing-room mirror my hat off and the brim - much tighter than I'd realized - having branded a red rim across my forehead giving me the overall look of a post-lobotomy grade schooler who, as a final wish before the infection sets in , gets to visit the Worlds Biggest Old Navy just once."
Students will like this book in a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book style. I'm afraid the committee won't consider it for Newbery due to some language, gay references and how Nate is embarrassed his father works as a janitor at the hospital, and how he describs attending religious camp. I loved the book! It looks at bullying from an interesting point of view. ( )