Yes, this one does get a little cliche with

bully has a bad home life, so they act out

trope, but that happens in real life sometimes. Anyway, this is one of my favorite Big Nate books! The story gets the slightest bit emotional (gasp!), we see a glimpse of Nate's dad as an actual character (which means he had a life and aspirations before he was just Nate's dorky dad), and a cute preteen romance that doesn't hog the entire story.

Wow, Nate finally stopped pining over Jenny.

I definitely recommend!