Something Wiki is a light-hearted, contemporary middle-grade novel narrated by twelve-year-old Jo Waller, who idolizes her older brother and uses Wikipedia as a secret diary. But when her brother and his girlfriend move back to the family home, Jo’s whole world is thrown into chaos.
Suzanne Sutherland (she/her) is the author of a number of books for young people, including the Jordan and Max series. Jordan and Max, Field Trip! was named a Children's Book Council Librarian Favorite and a CCBC Best Book for Kids & Teens. She lives in Toronto with her family.
SOMETHING WIKI portrays the agony of puberty as you change from childhood to adulthood – think acne, body image issues, your first boy crush, the realisation your parents are an embarrassment, and that some of your friends seem to have different agendas to you now. Oh the agony!! Jo does not have a high opinion of herself as she struggles to become a young woman, her friends seem to be transitioning effortlessly but Jo hates her acne, her hair and feels frumpy and awkward. As many teens do Jo keeps a diary – only hers is the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia. She finds a subject pertinent to what she wants to write about, such as acne, friendship, hairdressers then edits it so that she writes her feelings. She knows that eagle eyed purists will be deleting her edits as soon as she presses save so it is a nice way to vent. She has a lot to vent about. Her older brother and his pregnant girlfriend moving in changes her home life completely, then the dynamics of her little gang of friends are changing leaving her feeling alone and unsupported. She does start to find her feet again, but for a while she is out of her depth and confused. A normal teen then! Author Suzanne Sutherland covers a lot of themes is this quick read – friendship, bullying, self-esteem, school dynamics and family relationships. She writes well, and with a lightness that makes the emotional stuff less angst ridden than many teen books. Jo is a very believable character who doesn’t change to become ‘more acceptable’ to others but learns that it is ok to be yourself and your life will evolve to suit. I really enjoyed the story.
With thanks to Dundurn Publishing and the author via Netgalley for my copy to read and review.
Middle grade fiction isn’t always gentle or fantastical. Sometimes it can be downright moody, icky, and gross. Thank goodness. Puberty is rarely gentle or magical, so why should fiction tackling the subject be?In Something Wiki, we get a peek inside the mind and body of tween Jo Waller. Each chapter opens with a wikipedia entry that our young narrator has edited to suit her own experiences. This is Jo in a nutshell- internet-savvy, smart, and just entering that phase of tweendom where she is keenly, physically aware of herself.
It is clear that Canadian author Suzanne Sutherland remembers what it is to be a tween. This is a very physical book and there are lots of discussions about the physical experience of adolescence. The kind that make adults cringe and tweens go YES, MORE, PLEASE! Jo is constantly concerned about her acne, the treatment of which runs through the whole book like a low-grade fever. There is also lots of blood, but not the guts and gore kind, the everyday kind- from stepping on a tack, to pimples that have popped, to good old once a month menstrual blood.
One of the things I love best about middle grade is the navigation of relationships. Jo is in the middle of some mean girl games in addition to hard-core adulation of her older brother, a very cool musician with a downtown apartment. I love how much Jo looks up to her big brother and his girlfriend. When she discovers her brother’s girlfriend is pregnant, she starts to think more about sex and also comes to realize that they are both people with problems who make mistakes- not these big, cool, unattainable gods she has worked them up to be in her mind.
I also like the glimpses of Toronto, something Sutherland did well in her debut novel When We Were Good. So much middle grade seems to be set in small-town, middle-of-somewhere North America (something I am guilty of) but here we are firmly in downtown Toronto. Urban readers will appreciate a glimpse of their lifestyle and rural or suburban readers get all the fun of experiencing the truth of city life (still pretty boring when you’re underage). Other than Susin Nielsen, who sets her novels in Vancouver, not many Canadian kids’ writers use major Canadian cities as a backdrop.
With short chapters, lots of believable dialogue and a breezy pace, young readers will fly through Something Wiki before passing it off to their friends.
I recieved an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Jo is twelve, going on thirteen, and in the throes of all the adolescent horribleness that is attendant upon that age. At least she has a cool older brother to look up to and three good friends to struggle through with. Or she did, until one of her friends accuses her of writing something rude on her locker and then gleefully snubs her, dragging Jo's very best friend Stacy along with her and away from Jo when Jo thinks she needs her most. Because Jo's brother Zim (short for Zimmerman, as in Bob Dylan), is moving home with his unexpectedly pregnant girlfriend, Jennifer. If the friendship splitting and the family merging wasn't bad enough, Jo's fighting the demon of adolescence, combination acne. To comfort herself, she makes small edits on Wikipedia pages, using the world's encyclopedia as her confessional and diary.
I adored parts of this book. The ruthlessness and social climbing that can happen among teenagers was written well, along with the complicated relationship Jo has with her family, both blood and not. But the wikipedia parts, while I saw they related to the following section of text, were things I usually skipped over in my desire to read more of Jo's story. I would definitely suggest this to kids who are having a rough go of it with friendships, and possibly put it on reading lists for friendship/bullying/social circle issues.
Wikipedia is the font of all knowledge, and is usually my first port of call if I want to know about something - a celebrity, a TV show, a film, anything at all. It's great! So when I spotted Something Wiki on Netgalley, and learned that Jo was someone who regularly edited Wikipedia entries to mirror her own life situations. I was intrigued, and I couldn't wait to dive in to the novel.
Something Wiki was a younger novel that I expected - Jo and her friends are 12, and while they're not in my usual age-range, I really liked Jo. I found that her tale - where her rock star cool older brother ends up back in the family fold, with a pregnant girlfriend in two, and Jo's best friends suddenly don't feel like they're the best any more, and they're certainly not friendly.
Each chapter opens with an edited Wikipedia entry, and it took me a little while to realise what were the bits Jo edited, but I soon got in to it, and I found every Wikipedia entry was apt for the upcoming chapter, with Jo's chapters being very realistic. They were a super fun way to open up the chapter.
Jo was such a sweet narrator, too! I felt so sad for her to see that her "best" friends were deserting her, for reasons I still don't quite understand. When I was Jo's age, I had friends who did what Chloe and Stacey do to Jo and it made my life so awful to see people I thought were friends act so coldly, and meanly. It brought it all back and I felt so sad that Jo was being treated in that way. In fact, my only issue with the novel was that Chloe never told Jo why she'd started acting the way she did, and I didn't understand why Stacey just went along with it.
It was a lovely book all in all, the issues in the novel were all dealt with quite sensitively and the friendship thing definitely made me super sad. I loved getting to know Jo and her family, and especially Zim and Jen, Jo's brother and his girlfriend. They really were super cool, the kind of older brother you'd love to have in your life. It's definitely one a younger reader would lap up, and I would have loved a friend like Jo growing up.
Honestly, I know that Wiki is in the name of the book, and it states that editing it one of her deepest secrets, but I feel that the Wikipedia edits were irrelevant. If you removed the edits out of the book completely, I don't feel it would have made any difference to the plot. Overall, the plot was good. Jo is pushed out of a friendship group, through no fault of her own, and has to struggle with readjusting to this. She has issues with her physical appearance, and has a disaster with her hair cut due to fancying the hairdresser and being unable to speak. Due to her brother and his pregnant girlfriend moving back in, she can't speak to her parents about this.
It was a very short and easy read. Although I enjoyed it whilst reading it, I found the book forgettable, despite finishing it two days ago I can barely remember the ending.
Every once in a while you need a book that is simple and straightforward in its authenticity. A book that contains heart, warmth, genuine character building and human emotion, but lacking any pretentiousness; its only ambition to tell a beautiful story about a young girl and the confusing, complex modern world in which she lives. This is precisely the book that fulfills the above requirements.
I received Something Wiki from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Friends growing apart is a common theme in contemporary middle grade, probably because it’s so common in real life. It’s something many middle grade readers have faced or will face in the near future and it’s the main theme of Something Wiki. Jo’s upset and confused, of course, when her best friend Stacey and their other friend Chloe suddenly start excluding her and lying about why they can’t hang out with her, but she handles it with maturity. It won’t bring Stacey and Chloe back, but I hope Jo and her other friend Trisha are able to hang onto each other.
A fun and unusual aspect of the book is that Jo regularly edits Wikipedia. She doesn’t just add factual information. In essence, she vandalizes it, using it as a diary, adding jokes and talking about her day and her problems. Other people come along and edit out her additions so they’re never up for very long. If this was widespread, it would render Wikipedia completely useless, but I think it would be fun to come across a random entry that someone like Jo had done this to.
Something Wiki is pretty short. There’s a lot packed into the book, but none of it is touched upon as much as Jo’s friendship issues. The other parts, including the family dynamics of adding two people (and eventually a baby) are much more in the background. Even a lot of Jo’s interactions with Jen, her brother’s girlfriend, revolve around Jo’s friendship problems. Jen is young enough to remember middle school and can relate to what Jo is going through. She also some good advice to share. I think Jo is going to find Jen a valuable resource over the next few years. While I would have more focus on Jo’s expanding family, I could have done without the descriptions of Jo’s oily skin and the popping of her zits. Disgusting.
I was given access to an electronic version of this book in exchange for an honest review . . . so here it is!
Flibbertigibbet (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Flibbertigibbet is a Middle English word referring to a flighty or whimsical person, usually a young woman. In modern use, it is used as a slang term, especially in Yorkshire, for a gossipy or overly talkative person.
Jo, the flibbertigibbet, brainy almost teenager has problems with acne, family, school and friends is the heroine which are related in an empathetic and humorous manner in this tale. Now that sounds really boring but that's something this story isn't! The author starts each chapter with a title and 'quote' from Wikipedia defining the meaning of that title plus some extra information provided by Jo to show how the term applies to her life. She knows the extra information is likely only to be online for a short time as someone will undoubtably delete her extras but that's all part of her dorkiness, she still likes to add the detail. This will particularly appeal to girls of a similar age to Jo and they will find it easy to relate to her experiences!
Received an eArc from NetGalley in return to an honest review
Being twelve is sucks!
When Jo's bestfriend stole, when her cool bro suddenly announced that his girlfriend just pregnant and her zist getting crazier. And Jo wrote her diary into wikipedia (a smart way to used the edit button, but she erased it right after wrote it down) instead created blogs or wrote it down in facebook (I can't help for those who being so dramatic in ANY social media).
This book is about Jo's daily life. Her school life, her life at home and the problem usually twelve girl had (BFF, family, boys and...zist :D). My fave character is Jen (from Jenevive, not Jennifer) the pregnant girlfriend. I just felt like she would be a great big sist also a cool mother. The theme in every chapter also cleverly put in some paragraf that cited from wikipedia, with a lil bit edited by Jo. This is usual theme in preteen books, but it has unusuall way to write it (and the idea to used wikipedia in this way also kinda cool)....IMO :)
Twelve year old Jo is struggling to understand how her best friends have 'overnight' grown up and moved on leaving her as a bit of an outcast at school. Add to this she has terrible acne, and a 24 year old brother who has just moved back home with his pregnant girlfriend which makes for a pretty confusing time in her young life.
This is a pretty good middle-grade book which would be useful for kids who are Jo's age and struggling with that transition to being a teenager. It is a little young for YA or Adult readers, unless of course that adult has a child this age and needs to try and understand (remember!) what a confusing age it is. The writing is good, with occasional humour, and it is nice to have a book that doesn't try and change the character to 'fit in', but has a message at it's heart of just "be yourself and it will turn out ok (some day)".
Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Being 12-13 sucks, and I'm pretty sure that's a universal fact of humanity. Suzanne Sutherland's delightful novel explores the deep confusion of trying to figure out who you are and how you should relate to the world around you, the visceral pain of being shunned by a close friend, and the misery of acne -- all with a gentle humor, a sensitivity to the adolescent mindset, and an underlying feminist message. Sweet, confused, slightly dorky Jo is a fantastic protagonist, and her quirky habit of editing ephemeral personal diary entries into Wikipedia articles is a gloriously 21st-century metaphor for a young person trying to find their identity amongst a barrage of contradictory influences from the world around them. I wish I could give a copy of this book to every girl between the ages of 9 and 13.
As others have mentioned, the Wikipedia-editing is more an introductory device for each chapter than a core part of the plot. I loved the story itself though...Jo reminded me so much of myself, and I think that's a good indicator an author is doing something right. I too survived prescriptions for severe cystic acne, a suddenly-unloyal best friend, distant crushes, and not really caring about fitting in as a girly-girl. Jen's pregnancy (while causing realistic confusion amongst family members about how to handle major transition) is ultimately handled with love and support.
This is an easy reading book with some funny moments and many troubles for poor Jo. I like the whole story, also the struggling Jo exactly how she is. I find this book a great read for pre-teens, their parents and not only.
Here are some quotes I like and would love to share: “And that’s the way the world works – some of the greatest things that have ever happened were never planned, were somehow magic.” “… smart and weird may not be cool right now, but it will be. One day. And because everything always works out for the best in this giant work-in-progress.”
I received this book for free through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
My actual rating is 3.5 stars. This book was a quick read, but very cute. It touches on several subjects that would relate to almost every preteen, and does it without talking down to its audience. It is funny and emotional, and -- though it was 15 years ago -- it is a story that I'm sure my 12-year-old self would have enjoyed :)
A sweet book for middle school. 12 year old Jo chooses to edit Wikipedia entries rather than keeping a diary. Each chapter starts with an entry, giving the reader an idea of how Jo is feeling. The plot centers around pre-teen basics: changing friend groups and morphing families. A bad case of acne only adds to Jo's misery. The plot felt a bit unfinished, but still satisfying. This review is based on an ARC provided to me by the publisher.
I too remember that acne commercial! The way you described Jo's using Wikipedia as a diary like writing secrets into sand on the beach was pretty brilliant. There was a lot of that in this book, even though it was at the cost of some dark grade school flashbacks. Being 12 does suck, any way you slice it. Most of all, though, thanks for giving this story a real life ending.