I think I read this book when I was too young. I found it almost more scary than enjoyable. I should read it again, as an adult, and see if I feel differently about it.

This second volume in the Berrybrook Middle School series is just as charming and engaging as the first. Jensen (a member of the art club and friends with the previous book's protagonist Peppi Torres) is a daydream and a dabbler of many interests: space travel, Mars colonization, video games, comics, zombie apocalypse survival techniques, amateur journalism... What he isn't good at is defending himself against the twin hazards of outright bullying and low level mean jokes that come even inside his own friend circle. Jensen doesn't see himself as a victim, but as a wily survivor of the dangerous middle school halls. When he is presented with an opportunity to change not only his own situation, but also the whole culture of the school for the better, will he be brave enough to take it?

This is a fabulous and delightful collection of outsider gamer stories, edited by Hazel Newlevant (who now works as an editor at Lion Forge Comics). The authors explore profound or irreverent connections with games from Dominion, Dungeons and Dragons, LARPing and play by posting to Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Diablo II, Portal, World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero and the Sims. Some go to games for solitude, some for companionship; some relish in their status as female gamers, some explore a female identity denied to them IRL while still others chaff at the forced binary of choosing a male or female avatar. The book as a whole is extremely strong, but a few stories that particularly stuck out to me were "Poppy the Gnome and Friends" by Katie Longue, "Gamer Grrrl" by K.A. Kelly-Colon and June Vigants, "Battle for Amtgard..." by Maggie Siegel-Berele, "Absolute Dominion" by Diana Nock, "The Natural" by Sarah Stern and "Hang in there Peach" by Aatmaja Pandya.