The Nerd Herd

I was recently sent an advance readers copy of the YA book Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd. Not something I would have necessarily sought out on my own, but I decided to give it a quick read since it fell into my lap for free. It's a collection of short stories by various writers, all dealing with teenage characters who are involved with some type of "geektastic" activity like quiz bowls, sci-fi conventions, and fantasy games. They don't chart any new territory plot-wise, but most of the writers bring a sensitivity to their characters that make for surprisingly sweet stories. Most successful are those that don't fall into the stereotypical treatment of geeky kids versus cool kids. Aside from one or two stories that missed the mark, I found myself enjoying this collection more than I expected to.