Winger
Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids in the Pacific Northwest. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.
With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.
Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.
Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2014); Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award (ALAN/NCTE) Nominee (2014); Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee (2015); American Library Association Rainbow List (2014); YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults - Top Ten (2014)
About the Winger Series
Books in series order
- 1.Winger(2013)
- 2.Stand-Off(2015)
Reading age: 14+ years
This series should be read in order.
Ryan Dean West's life is complicated. He's a student at Pine Mountain, a boarding school for rich kids. He's sharing a room with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he's totally in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little kid. With the help of his mates and his talent for doodling comics, Ryan Dean is trying his best to get a handle on school, life and rugby. But when the unthinkable happens he has to find a way to hold on to the important things - no matter what. Hilarious and heartbreaking, Winger is a coming-of-age story for the twenty-first century.