Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle | Teen Ink

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

April 17, 2017
By __Liam__ BRONZE, San Diego, California
__Liam__ BRONZE, San Diego, California
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
Always be yourself, everyone else is already taken


In the book "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle is a great novel, if you like mystery, suspense, and adventure then I recommend this to you! It starts off in a little town called Jankburg in Pennsylvania. Nate doesn’t like this small unknown town however he wants to go on to the big apple (New York) and be the next big thing on Broadway! He has been dreaming and dreaming of going all his life to Broadway. He and his friend Libby like to act and sing together. He is not traditionally popular and not many people are friendly to him; I guess because his older brother Anthony is mister big-shot. He has a girlfriend, he's on the varsity team, super popular, so I think that when people see that he is not as glamorous as his brother he is lame. But one day when his parents leave the house for a weekend, and Anthony is supposed to watch him but leaves, Nate and Libby make a plan to get to New York and back before his parents got home. He will be auditioning for E.T. the musical. He has a credit card and his brothers ID. Now we have to hope he doesn’t get caught. I really think it is a story worth reading 


The book begins when it is a Friday night and Nate has just gotten back from school, and the parents announce that they will be leaving temporarily for the weekend and will be back soon, soon after Nate and Libby communicate and Libby convinces him that this is his chance to go to Broadway, and perform. The auditions were the next day. He gets Anthony's ID and heads to a taxi station to get on he has a credit card with lots of money, deodorant, change of clothes, and his iPad. He doesn’t know where to sleep but he finds a restaurant that will let him sleep in the back. The next morning a lady comes in and realizes it's his Aunt Heidi, she and Nate's mom had an argument and so Heidi left. She doesn’t recognize him at first, but once everyone's all caught up she gets him to that audition. But he messes up and hears some snickers from other kids. The next day he tries again and they say they’ll get back to him and right as he leaves for home they call and say he got the part. So they head back. Then the MOM walks in her apartment late at night to get Nate, but she started drinking because of the stress; So Heidi makes her stay until tomorrow. By then she has calmed down and has listened to Nate. He didn’t get the part but he had fun and enjoyed himself. When he gets home Anthony is in HUGE, and I mean HUGE trouble. He has secretly been drinking beer and now he is in hot water with his parents, But for Nate everything turned out okay.


There are some things I enjoyed and did not enjoy about this book, on thing I disliked was that while Nate is in New York his friend Libby is covering for him so no one else notices he is gone. But Libby did not have a big part of the story, Nate and Libby texted occasionally and the reader could see what they were saying. But I think there should have been some shifting perspective, which means every so often the book while switch to Libby's situation and she becomes the narrator. But it was all Nate and I think that Libby could've helped us understand more about what was going on at Jankburg, Because without Libby none of this could've happened! However, I'm not saying Nate was a bad narrator. In my opinion he did a great job of describing what was going on. He explained his feelings physically and emotionally very well. He really helps the reader understand precisely what is going on


In conclusion, I think this book is very good, it has a very nice setting and plot. Like I said before I would have liked to See Libby's point of view a little more, and would have liked some more information about what happened at Jankburg, Pennsylvania. But still it is a wonderful story about a boy with big dreams and even if he didn’t accomplish them the way he expected. he had the experience of a lifetime.


Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 1 comment.


on Apr. 22 2017 at 11:05 am
__Liam__ BRONZE, San Diego, California
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
Always be yourself, everyone else is already taken

Plz like if you read!!! hope you enjoy my review!! I worked really hard on this!