A lovely book with a wonderful set of characters

Thank you Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

Ambrose Bukowski has never really had any friends, and his talent for words is not something which endears him to others. When he gets on the wrong side of a group of boys, who end up sending him to the hospital with an allergic reaction, his overprotective mother pulls him from school, and starts a home learning course. But she's always busy, and he becomes friends with the upstairs neighbour, and ex-con, Cosmo. Cosmo and Ambrose share a love of scrabble, and it's like Cosmo is the father he never had.

I'm so glad this book is finished. I was so annoyed with most of the characters throughout, and honestly didn't care about any of them. I mean, we're supposed to feel sorry for 12 year old Ambrose, who has no dad, always moves around, has a life threatening peanut allergy, is bullied and has an overprotective mother. Instead, I felt like he was the whiniest kid I've ever read, who could've done something so he wasn't bullied as much, and he was a real jerk too. I sort of liked Cosmo, but not enough to enjoy the book at all. This was a really young reading book, and I think it'll be more geared towards 10 year olds, though even then, Ambrose was more immature than most primary school kids. Oh well, it's another book off my TBR at least!

I think that Susan Nielsen will slowly but surely become one of my all time favourite authors of middle grade and children's book. Her writing style is so seamlessly perfect and it is a pleasure to read her stories. The characters are always well developed and relatable. Word Nerd was no exception!

This was a great book. Loved the pure plot line, the heartfelt sentiment. All children and adults should read this.