Winger

""Winger "broke my heart, like any great book should. Andrew Smith is a brave and talented storyteller who blows me away every time. Readers will love Ryan Dean West. This book is powerful, sweet and heart-wrenching."--A. S. King, Printz Honor-winning author of Please Excuse Vera Dietz

I am seriously moved beyond words after finishing this beautiful, hilarious, and heart-exploding book. Reading Winger" is like running down a steep hill--you should probably slow down, but it feels too good to stop. Andrew Smith has written a wildly original, hilarious, and heartbreaking ode to teenage confusion and frustration. You'll devour it and then go back for more."--John Corey Whaley, author of the Printz and Morris winning Where Things Come Back

"I am seriously moved beyond words after finishing this beautiful, hilarious, and heart-exploding book. Reading Winger" is like running down a steep hill--you should probably slow down, but it feels too good to stop. Andrew Smith has written a wildly original, hilarious, and heartbreaking ode to teenage confusion and frustration. You'll devour it and then go back for more."--John Corey Whaley, author of the Printz and Morris winning Where Things Come Back

""Winger" is one of the most honest and beautifully raw novels I've read in a long time. Ryan Dean is a true original."--Matt de la Pena, author of Mexican WhiteBoy and We Were Here"

A teen at boarding school grapples with life, love, and rugby in this unforgettable novel that is "alternately hilarious and painful, awkward and enlightening" ("Publishers Weekly," starred review).
Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He's living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he's madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.
Ryan Dean manages to survive life's complications with the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what's important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.
Filled with hand-drawn infographics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen's experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.