WORSER by Jennifer Ziegler

 

WORSER by Jennifer Ziegler is now at the top of my best books of 2022, and it is going to take something special to knock it off its pedestal. Filled with amazing words and turns of phrase and an incredible main character, WORSER is encouraging, heart-breaking, and a hoot to boot.

William Wyatt Orser "Worser" is most comfortable around people over 40. This doesn't endear him to his fellow seventh grade classmates. Raised to appreciate words and language and the accurate use of both, Worser is frustrated when he hears words used incorrectly. The fact that he makes his frustration known by constantly correcting those around him hasn't earned him any friends. Since his propensity for correcting folks isn't limited to just his classmates, he has recently found himself in the principal's office for correcting his teachers.

Worser has always had a partner in this appreciation for words in his mother, but she has suffered a stroke that has left her with only the ability to express herself with sounds like "Be" and "Beh. Worser's eccentric aunt has come to stay with them bringing her two half-feral cats and her crazy art projects. In an effort to escape and find a quiet place, Worser has discovered a small, little used bookstore whose proprietor allows him to spend time working on something he calls his Masterwork. 

Life for Worser begins to look up when his long-time crush Donya needs a place for the school Literary Club to meet. The bookstore is the perfect answer. Worser learns others might appreciate his love of words and his amazing Masterwork, but life just isn't that simple for Worser. Complications arise that will test his patience and his fears that life with his mother may never return to normal.