Be More Chill - Softcover

Vizzini, Ned

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786809965 ISBN 13: 9780786809967

Publisher: Disney Hyperion, 2005

Synopsis

The groundbreaking novel that inspired the Broadway musical!
Jeremy Heere is your average high school dork. Day after day, he stares at beautiful Christine, the girl he can never have, and dryly notes the small humiliations that come his way. Until the day he learns about the "squip."
A pill-sized supercomputer that you swallow, the squip is guaranteed to bring you whatever you most desire in life. By instructing him on everything from what to wear, to how to talk and walk, the squip transforms Jeremy from geek to the coolest guy in class. Soon he is friends with his former tormentors and has the attention of the hottest girls in school.
But Jeremy discovers that there is a dark side to handing over control of your life--and it can have disastrous consequences.

"A fresh, spontaneous, and original voice?it's fun, wacky, outrageous. I just couldn't stop reading." ?Judy Blume
"Quirky, Funny, and Dead-on?imagine Holden Caulfield with internet access."?New York Post

About this title

Review:

In a novel that could be described as a kinder, gentler version of M.T. Anderson's Feed, young author Ned Vizzini draws on the very recent recollections of his years at Stuyvesant High School to create a witty commentary on the annoying realities of teen social life.

Jeremy Heere is convinced that people are born Cool: "See, because being Cool is obviously the most important thing on earth...It's more important than getting a job, or having a girlfriend, or political power, or money, because all those things are predicated by Coolness." And he hasn't got it. Every day he yearns hopelessly for beautiful Christine. Then, one day he gets a squip--a tiny quantum supercomputer that looks like a little gray capsule and when swallowed becomes a voice in his head instructing him in the ways of Cool. Soon, every gril he admires is his--including Christine. But when the squip turns malevolent in its merciless pursuit of the goal, Jeremy begins to realize that Cool is not as cool as he thought it was. (ages 14 up) --Patty Campbell

About the Author:

Ned Vizzini began writing for The New York Press at the age of fifteen. At nineteen, he had his first book published, Teen Angst? Naaah?. He was also author of three other books for young adults including The Other Normals, Be More Chill, the first young adult novel ever chosen as a Today Show Book Club pick, and which is the basis of the musical of the same name, and It's Kind of a Funny Story, which NPR named #56 of the "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels" of all time and which is the basis of the film of the same name. The last novel published before his death, House of Secrets, was a middle-grade fantasy novels co-written with filmmaker Chris Columbus; it debuted on the New York Times best-seller list.
Ned's stories often drew on his struggles with anxiety and depression, yet they had a strong comic bent. His fans appreciated his honesty and sense of humor. He was also very generous to other writers. In 2005, he started the Barnes & Noble Teen Writers Workshops, which he ran until 2012.

About this edition

• Publisher: Disney Hyperion
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0786809965
• ISBN 13: 9780786809967
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320