As a middle school teacher I often see kids like Nole. They
may not always hide away in video games, but they hide away in their art or
something else. I often see them with someone who acts like a friend, but at
the same time tends to bully them, just on a milder level.
In this book our main character has gotten the most coveted new game, Enix. Within
this game he can be the opposite of who he isn’t in his real world. When he
meets a girl named Dapple he begins to build a friendship and a crush. Then
Dapple introduces him to her friend, Kianola (Kia). Nole’s crush moves from Dapple to Kia. Through playing this game Nole gets a whole
new perspective on life. Teased and bullied for being overweight, he has such low
self esteem. In the imaginary world he can be the opposite of what he believes he
is in the real world. However, this soon carries over into his real life. Nole
begins to make changes in himself, to become the person he wants to be and the
person he is determined to become.
The gaming part of this book was awesome. I say this having grown up with the original
Sega and graduation to Play Stations (as an adult). I was never good at playing
games. Just ask my kids or my nieces and nephews. That doesn’t mean I didn’t
like them. The world building in this story is done so expertly that when Nole
and his friends entered the game I felt like I was there. I could envision the
different worlds in the games. I
understood what was happening in the game. Were the game real I still couldn’t
play it and win. My eye-hand coordination is not good, the same with my
reflexes. I believe this is a book my middle school students are going to
love. Especially since they so patiently
try to explain to me the games they are
playing. I would have to classify this as fantasy world meets the real
world. If I could give this more than
five stars I would because this has to be one of the best books I have read in
the last few month.
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