Twerp / Mark Goldblatt / 274 pages

This is a coming of age story about 12 year old Julian Twerski whose 6th grade teacher makes an assignment that helps Julian to understand himself and an act of bullying.  The story takes place in 1969 in Queens.  Julian's teacher sees that Julian is a writer and he assigns a journaling project which turns out to be the book, Twerp.  Through his self-examination, Julian aka Twerp, relates stories involving his best buddies, talks about his Jewish heritage, touches on a beginning interest in girls, shares his pride and concern about being the fastest kid in school, and finally relates the bullying incident in which a boy is injured.  Nostalgic.