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by Meagan Brothers
This fresh LGBT YA novel speaks to anyone who has ever felt unwanted and alone.
In the tiny podunk town of Hawthorne, North Carolina, seventeen-year-old geeks Lula and Rory share everything - sci-fi and fantasy fandom, Friday night binge-watching of old X-Files episodes, and that feeling that they don't quite fit in. Lula knows she and Rory have no secrets from each other; after all, he came out to her years ago, and she's shared with him her 'sacred texts" - the acting books her mother left behind after she walked out of Lula's life. But then Lula discovers that Rory - her Rory, who maybe she's secretly had feelings for - has not only tried out for the Hawthorne football team without telling her, but has also been having an affair with his middle-aged divorcee boss.
With their friendship disrupted, Lula begins to question her identity and her own sexual orientation, and she runs away in the middle of the night on a journey to find her mother, who she hopes will have all the answers.
Meagan Brother's piercing prose in this fresh LGBT YA novel speaks to anyone who has ever felt unwanted and alone, and who struggles to find their place in an isolating world. Ages 14-up.
"Starred Review. The characters are wonderfully likable, the story is smartly written, and - what's this? - there's a possibility for a happy ending? Read and find out." - Booklist
"Groundbreaking YA fiction." - School Library Journal
"Voices are crisply and intimately drawn. Minor characters are equally vibrant ... Carefully and subtly imagined." - Kirkus
"A unique exploration of how trauma can change someone - and an inspiring message of how an individual has some say in the world." - ElleGirl
"A wonderful story about family, love, and fan fiction. Brothers does an excellent job of showing that true friendship can survive anything, including football, sexuality, and government coverups." - Brian Katcher, author, Almost Perfect
"Rory and Lula might bond over out-there sci-fi, but their relationship is as real as it gets. To paraphrase their favorite show: The truth is in here." — D.C. Pierson, comedian and author, The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To
"Gorgeous writing, real characters I could give my heart to, and a huge-hearted exploration of being a fan of something specific (music! X-Files! football!)...I'm certainly now a huge fangirl of Meagan Brothers!" - Kim Culbertson, Northern California Book Award Winner of Instructions for a Broken Heart and Catch a Falling Star
"I fell in love with both narrators ofWeird Girl and What's His Name, and found their story meaningful, original, and truthful. As someone who's been both a weird girl and a what's her name, I heartily endorse this book." - Janice Earlbaum, author, I. Liar and Girlbomb
"I wish I could go back in time, when I was Lula and Rory's age, so I could feel like I finally had someone who spoke my language... This is a book for anyone that has ever binge watched on a TV show or fallen in love with their best friend or searched for a way out of redundancy or dreamed of an adventure." - Aimee Herman, author, To Go Without Blinking
This information about Weird Girl and What's His Name was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Meagan Brothers is a writer, poet and musician best known for her young adult novels Supergirl Mixtapes, a 2012 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults nomination, and Debbie Harry Sings in French, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, which won a GLBT Round Table ALA Award, and was named a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. She was founder and lead guitarist for the punk rock band Steel Pier Sinners. Originally from Spartanburg, North Carolina, she currently lives in New York City.
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