Gigi Shin Is Not a Nerd

Gigi Shin Is Not a Nerd
Author(s)
Publisher
Age Range
8+
Release Date
March 05, 2024
ISBN
978-1665939171
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This first book in a sparkling middle grade series giving a fresh take on The Baby-Sitters Club follows a young Korean American girl who starts a business with her best friends to support her artistic dreams.

Jiyoung “Gigi” Shin loves to create, from her zany outfits to self-executed haircuts. She dreams of becoming an artist and doodles every chance she gets—at school instead of taking notes, in choir instead of singing, and at home instead of homework. Art is her way of escaping her boring life in suburban Middle of Nowhere, Texas. Unfortunately, her working class, immigrant parents want her to focus on her studies and pursue something more “practical.” Gigi only really feels like herself in art class and at lunch with her best friends, Carolina and Zeina.

When Gigi learns about an elite art camp on the east coast, she’s determined to go. But she knows her parents won’t let her, much less pay for it. After overhearing her little brother Tommy complain about how hard math is and how his teacher goes too fast for him, Gigi has a brilliant idea: forming a tutoring club with her friends to make enough money for the art camp.

With Carolina, Zeina, and Carolina’s friend, Emma, the girls go all in, each with a reason for wanting the business to succeed. But the first few sessions with their classmates are a little chaotic, and Gigi wonders if she will end up sacrificing more than she bargained for to achieve her dreams.

Editor review

1 review
High Aspirations
(Updated: March 23, 2024)
Overall rating
 
5.0
Plot
 
5.0
Characters
 
5.0
Writing Style
 
5.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
N/A
“Gigi Shin Is Not a Nerd” by Lyla Lee takes readers into the world of Gigi, a middle school girl with high aspirations to be an artist. Growing up in a Korean-American family doesn’t make it easy for her, though, as she finds that there are expectations put on her to be good at math and science, and to plan for a career that follows from those subjects. She doesn’t know quite what to do to make her parents understand her profound love of art.

When she finds out about Starscape, a top-of-the-line summer art program in New York, she desperately wants to attend. Her parents can’t even wrap their heads around the idea, and she feels like she’ll never get their approval. She and her friends decide that the only chance any of them have of attending the prestigious Starscape program is to raise money on their own to prove that they are capable, responsible, and truly deserving of attending. So, they start a tutoring program, a la the Babysitter’s Club, so that they can raise funds and help people all at the same time.

All is going well until Gigi has some academic problems of her own on a science quiz, and her parents start to question her ability to handle everything she has taken on. She is determined to make it clear that she is perfectly able to handle everything, they just have to let her prove it.

Aside from academics and tutoring, crushes and friend drama fill the pages of this first book in a new series. Readers will be eager to learn what happens next to Gigi and her friends as they embark on more tutoring, art, and middle school adventures.
Good Points
Aside from academics and tutoring, crushes and friend drama fill the pages of this first book in a new series. Readers will be eager to learn what happens next to Gigi and her friends as they embark on more tutoring, art, and middle school adventures.
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