Be More Chill

by Vizzini, Ned

• ISBN13: 9780786809950
• ISBN10: 0786809957
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Summary

Jeremy Heere is your average high school dork. Day after day he stares at beautiful Christine, the girl he can never have, and dryly notes the small humiliations that come his way -- until the day he is told about the "squip." A pill-sized supercomputer that you swallow, the squip is guaranteed to bring you whatever you most desire in life. By instructing him on everything from what to wear to how to talk and walk, the squip transforms Jeremy from a supergeek to one of the most popular guys in class. Soon he has made friends and has the attention of the hottest girls in school. But his real dream, Christine, remains out of his reach. Jeremy eventually finds out that there is also a dark side to having a computer inside your brain -- and it can lead to disastrous consequences. Performed by Jesse Eisenberg

Author Biography

Ned Vizzini began writing for TheNew York Press at the age of fifteen. At nineteen, he had his first book published, Teen Angst? Naaah…. He was also author of three other books for young adults including The Other Normals, Be More Chill, the first young adult novel ever chosen as a Today Show Book Club pick, and which is the basis of the musical of the same name, and It's Kind of a Funny Story, which NPR named #56 of the "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels" of all time and which is the basis of the film of the same name. The last novel published before his death, House of Secrets, was a middle-grade fantasy novels co-written with filmmaker Chris Columbus; it debuted on the New York Times best-seller list.

Ned's stories often drew on his struggles with anxiety and depression, yet they had a strong comic bent. His fans appreciated his honesty and sense of humor; his writing provided solace to those who saw their feelings and experiences mirrored in the books. He was also very generous to other writers. In 2005, he started the Barnes & Noble Teen Writers Workshops, which he ran until 2012.