Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong

by Prudence Shen, Faith Erin Hicks (Illustrator)

Overview

You wouldn't expect Nate and Charlie to be friends.


Charlie’s the laid-back captain of the basketball team. Nate is the neurotic, scheming president of the robotics club. But they are friends, however unlikely—until Nate declares war on the cheerleaders and the cheerleaders retaliate by making Charlie their figurehead in the ugliest class election campaign the school has ever seen. At stake? Student group funding that will either cover a robotics competition or new cheerleading uniforms, but not both.


Bad sportsmanship? Sure. Chainsaws? Why not. Running away from home on Thanksgiving to illicitly enter a televised robot deathmatch? Let's do this!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250779618
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	06/22/2021
Series:	Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong , #1
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	214,374
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Prudence Shen is a writer and caffeine addict who pays rent in Virginia even though she mostly lives in airports. Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong is her first book. She loves robots. Not like that.

Faith Erin Hicks is a writer and artist who lives in Vancouver, Canada. Her published works include Friends with Boys, The Adventures of Superhero Girl, The Last of Us: American Dreams (with Neil Druckmann), The Nameless City trilogy, Comics Will Break Your Heart, and the New York Times bestselling Pumpkinheads (with Rainbow Rowell).

Reading Group Guide

About the Book:
You wouldn't expect Nate and Charlie to be friends. Charlie's the laid-back captain of the basketball team, and Nate is the neurotic, scheming president of the robotics club. But they are friends, however unlikely—until Nate declares war on the cheerleaders. At stake is funding that will either cover a robotics competition or new cheerleading uniforms—but not both.

It's only going to get worse: after both parties are stripped of their funding on grounds of abominable misbehavior, Nate enrolls the club's robot in a battlebot competition in a desperate bid for prize money. Bad sportsmanship? Sure. Chainsaws? Why not. Running away from home on Thanksgiving to illicitly enter a televised robot death match? Nothing can possibly go wrong.

For Discussion:

There are a lot of cliques in this book: jocks, cheerleaders, and geeks. Are cliques inclusive or exclusive in your opinion? How do you feel about them?

When Nate tries to run for student body president, his friend tells him that he is "literally trying to win a popularity contest." Do you agree that being voted for student body president is based on how popular you are? Could the answer be different in another school?

How is Charlie feeling when his mom tells him that she is remarrying? What does he mean when he says to her,"I thought you were supposed to be happy with us"?

Describe Charlie and Nate's friendship. They don't belong to the same clique, but they are still friends. What has bound them together all of these years?

Charlie has a difficult time communicating with his parents. How important is communication in a relationship? What happens when there is no communication between two people, like Charlie and his dad and mom?

The gang decides to skip Thanksgiving with their families in order to attend the Robot Rumble. Would you make the same decision? How understanding would your family be about it?

At the Robot Rumble, Team Opera Rock tells Charlie, "We don't like your kind here at the rumble." What do they mean by that?

What are some stereotypes that are contradicted in Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong?

Editorial Reviews

When the school budget only allows for either new cheerleading uniforms or funding for a robotics competition, students at Hollow Ridge High take matters into their own hands in this exuberant escapade. At the center of the story are Charlie and Nate, neighbors and childhood friends who have stayed close despite drifting into different cliques (Charlie is the captain of the basketball team, while Nate heads up the robotics club). Debut author Shen and illustrator Hicks (Friends with Boys) employ high school mainstays—neurotic nerds, hive-minded cheerleaders, oblivious parents, and a contentious class election—but put a fresh spin on them, aligning the book with more recent teen phenomena such as Glee rather than, say, the films of John Hughes. Shen’s plot ably balances drama, humor, angst, and robotic geekery, giving the book an immediate YA appeal, but one that’s broad enough to be enjoyable to older readers, as well. Visually, Hicks’s wide-eyed, inky b&w panels infuse the characters with real emotion and personality, capturing the book’s heartfelt youthfulness. Ages 12–up. Author’s agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Bernadette Baker-Baughman, Victoria Sanders & Associates. (May)¦

Publishers Weekly

Smart and funny; don't miss this one.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This story has everything: basketball, dastardly cheerleaders, a robot rumble, conniving geeks, a house party, family drama, student body council elections, and a tiny sliver of romance.” —Booklist, starred review

“I love Hicks' artwork and I'm excited to see what new author Shen has in store. ” —Wired.com GEEKDAD blog

“Sounds like my kind of thing!” —Cory Doctorow, BOINGBOING.com

“The very first strip is a grabber.” —Heidi MacDonald, THE BEAT.com

“This lightweight romp could be just the ticket for latecomers to comics and GNs.” —BCCB

From the Publisher

Gr 6–9—The next student-body president will decide if the school will fund cheerleader uniforms or a robotics competition, and the cheerleaders are forcing the basketball captain to run against his friend Nate, the robotics club president. The line between jocks and nerds begins to waver, however, when the two warring factions enter a robot rumble for the prize money. The robot death matches are suspenseful and, like much of this novel, effectively illustrated with cinematic paneling and few words. Hicks's angular illustrations nod to manga and are wonderfully expressive: the haughty cheerleaders are truly chilling. Tweens, teens, and all robot fans should enjoy this good-humored play on the ongoing battle between jocks and geeks.—Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

An unlikely assemblage of robot-builders and cheerleaders rally together for a common cause. Charlie and Nate have been friends forever, and even though Charlie is a quiet jock and Nate is the president of the robotics club, they remain friends against the high school grain. However, when Charlie's ex—coldly calculating cheerleader Holly—threatens to usurp precious school funds away from the robotics club so her squad can have new uniforms, Nate decides to run for student council president to ensure that the funds go to his club. Not to be outdone, Holly decides that Charlie will run against him. When the mud-slinging election goes too far, both sides find themselves without any school monies. They must then join together and enter a Robot Rumble contest in hopes of snagging a top prize. Shen's writing is spot-on and often laugh-out-loud funny. Hicks' modish art serves as an apt complement, with many panels deftly capturing deadpan looks where words would otherwise fail. Perhaps the only flaw in this truly enjoyable read is the overbusy panels during the Robot Rumble, which can be a bit confusing. Smart and funny; don't miss this one. (Graphic fiction. 13 & up)

Kirkus Reviews