Probably Still Nick Swansen

By Virginia Euwer Wolff

Book Overview

Nick Swansen knows what it means to be Special Ed.: You can't drive, the regular kids don't talk to you much, and it's hard to make sense of all the stuff swirling in your mind. What he doesn't know is whether being Special Ed. means you shouldn't go to the prom -- so he asks Shana. That's when everything bad gets all mixed up: the prom, what Shana does, and the terrible thing that happened to Nick's sister. Nick doesn't want to think about any of it, but unless he makes peace with all the memories that trouble him, they will haunt him forever. . . .

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805007016
• ISBN13: 9780805007015
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 5.8"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

review

this was a great book about a special ed. child who wants to just be normal.

Great Book

I liked this book a lot. More Kids should read it.

Very thoughtful

I was reading this for the second time because of my homework. I was asked to find a story that's about a teenager having trouble with emotions and learned to deal with it effectively. I think this is a really good book for YA.

I would make it assigned reading!

But I'm not a teacher, not yet, only a teaching assistant and in graduate school to get a teaching credential in special ed. A few things have changed in the field since Wolff published this in 1988, but the fundamental truth is there. However, if I were a teacher I would assign this book to struggling readers in a heartbeat. In fact, it'd probably even be more useful for "regular" kids. The cover of my copy reads: "Nick has a problem./ No... problems." How he deals with his problems should be instructive to everybody. Much more instructive than To Kill a Mockingbird, in my opinion.

Nick brings understanding

I thought this was a really good book. I felt like I actually knew what it was like to be learning disabled. This book has everything from death of a sibling to being stood up for the prom.