Worse Than Weird

by Jody J. Little

Overview

Readers who love Leslie Connor and Ann M. Martin will adore this story of a citywide scavenger hunt and a girl who learns that family—and weirdness—is relative.

Summer Coding Camp

Incoming 7th graders only

Eight-week session begins June 28

This is it, my summer plan.

Hoping to ditch two months of chicken coops, kale, and her parents’ antiscreen rules, Mac MacLeod sets out to win a citywide food cart scavenger hunt and the money she needs for the summer coding camp of her dreams.

But Mac discovers more than just clues during her cross-city sprint—like how her weird parents might not be the worst thing compared to the circumstances of those around her.

With the same humor and hope of her debut novel, Mostly the Honest Truth, Jody J. Little gives readers another spunky, unforgettable character to root for.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062852533
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/10/2020
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	800 KB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Jody J. Little is an elementary school teacher in Portland, Oregon, who loves sharing her joy of books with her students. She is the author of Mostly the Honest Truth and Worse Than Weird. Visit her at www.jodyjlittle.com or follow her on Twitter @jodyjlittle.

Editorial Reviews

Middle-grade readers are bound to enjoy Mac's machinations.” — Booklist

“Plenty of warmth and fun. A good bet for fans of Emma Donoghue’s The Lotterys books or Jennifer Chambliss Bertman’s Book Scavenger series.” — School Library Journal

“Readers will appreciate following the food-focused treasure hunt, Mac's zeal for coding, and her compassionate friends. Earnest, entertaining and original.” — Kirkus Reviews

PRAISE FOR Mostly the Honest Truth:   “This upbeat tale portrays a hero’s journey that takes a community to complete.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Jane is an old-fashioned fix-it kid in this sweet story of folks young and old in need of what the Three Boulders stand for: forgiveness, redemption, and community.”
— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“To get to Three Boulders, turn right at the juncture of sadness and courage, keep straight to the edge of wisdom, and take the fork to understanding.  You won’t want to leave that magical place.” — Susan Patron, Newbery Medal-winning author of The Higher Power of Lucky

“Jane Pengilly is prickly, persistent—and an utter delight! She, and the other inhabitants of Three Boulders, will take your heart apart and put it back together again. A superb debut.” — Leslie Connor, author of The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle

From the Publisher

To get to Three Boulders, turn right at the juncture of sadness and courage, keep straight to the edge of wisdom, and take the fork to understanding.  You won’t want to leave that magical place.

Susan Patron

Jane is an old-fashioned fix-it kid in this sweet story of folks young and old in need of what the Three Boulders stand for: forgiveness, redemption, and community.”

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Jane Pengilly is prickly, persistent—and an utter delight! She, and the other inhabitants of Three Boulders, will take your heart apart and put it back together again. A superb debut.

Leslie Connor

Middle-grade readers are bound to enjoy Mac's machinations.

Booklist

Jane is an old-fashioned fix-it kid in this sweet story of folks young and old in need of what the Three Boulders stand for: forgiveness, redemption, and community.”

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Middle-grade readers are bound to enjoy Mac's machinations.

Booklist

02/01/2020

Gr 3–7—Middle-schooler MacKenna MacKensie MacLeod thinks that "three Macs is excessive," so she just goes by Mac. Her name isn't the only thing that aspiring coder Mac finds to be a little too much. Her kale-loving, naked-biking, drum-circling parents can be a lot to live with, and she knows that they will neither approve of nor want to pay for the coding camp that she's set her heart on. With the help of her two friends and an enigmatic newcomer with family issues of his own, she sets out to raise the money by winning a food truck promotional scavenger hunt. Since she's in Portland, OR, there are a lot of food trucks, and things quickly start getting complicated. The quest is quirky to the point of the occasional eye roll, and most of the adults are close to caricatures, but readers will enjoy Mac's dynamic with her friends. There's plenty of warmth and fun mixed in with the twee. VERDICT A good bet for fans of Emma Donoghue's "The Lotterys" books or Jennifer Chambliss Bertman's "Book Scavenger" series.—Katya Schapiro, Brooklyn Public Library

School Library Journal

2019-11-05
A technology-loving 12-year-old girl is convinced that her hippie parents are the ultimate in embarrassing, but then she learns that her friends are struggling with far more challenging concerns.

MacKenna "Mac" MacLeod's unconventional parents host annual Earth festivals, enjoy goat yoga, and participate in the Portland, Oregon, Naked Bike Ride (albeit with private parts covered by flowers and dreadlocks). Meanwhile, Mac believes that computer coding is her superpower and wishes that her parents were more buttoned-down in their presentation. Driven by the need for funds to attend computer camp, Mac participates in a prize-focused treasure hunt involving Portland's famed food carts and engages her friends to help. Mac soon learns that all of her treasure-hunt partners have parent-related troubles of their own: family separation, intense pressure to excel in competitive swimming, parental mental illness, and homelessness. All the while she adopts a coder's mindset to solve problems: both big and small, inanimate and human. Readers will appreciate following the multiethnic food-focused treasure hunt, Mac's zeal for coding, and her compassionate friends as well as her eventual transformation in thinking about the life of her family. Mac, her family, and her friends present white with the exception of one who appears to be of Vietnamese heritage.

Earnest, entertaining, and original. (author's note) (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews