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 finds out about the "squip." This pill-sized supercomputer, when swallowed, 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 Supergeek into one of the most popular guys in class. Soon he is friends with his former tormentors and has the attention of the hottest girls in school. But Jeremy eventually discovers that there is also a dark side to having a computer inside your brain-and it can have disastrous consequences. Searingly witty and surprisingly poignant-this novel heralds the arrival of a hot new talent in YA fiction. Ned Vizzini began writing for New York Press at the age of fifteen. At seventeen he was asked to write a piece for New York Times Magazine, which led to the publication Teen Angst? Naah . . . , his autobiography of his years at a New York City high school, which was selected as a Booksense 76 Pick. Now twenty-two, Ned lives in Brooklyn, New
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.