Bibliographic Information


Cohn, R., & Levithan, D. (2006). Nick and norah’s infinite playlist. New York, NY: Random House Children’s Books.

ISBN: 978-0-375-84614-4

 

Plot Summary

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan is the story of teens Nick O'Leary and Norah Silverberg.  Nick plays in a band known for constantly changing their band name and for being comprised of primarily gay band members. After playing a show with his band, Nick sees his ex-girlfriend Tris in the audience. He impulsively asks the girl next to him at the bar to pretend that she is his girlfriend. The random girl who happens to be Norah doesn’t answer him with words, but impulsively kisses him. What was supposed to be away to avoid his ex-girlfriend turns his night into something unexpected. Next thing you know Nick and Norah are on an adventure of a lifetime through Manhattan. They go see the band “Where’s Fluffy?” play and visit random places all over town. This adventure is told alternating between Nick and Norah as they get to know one another during this epic first date.

 

Critical Evaluation


This book is a sweet coming of age story that is filled with humor and romance. Both Nick and Norah are trying to figure out who they are and get over past relationships. I thought it was cute that their story started as a way for Nick to avoid his ex-girlfriend and as a way for Norah to get over her sort of ex-boyfriend. There are a lot of pop cultural references that still feel applicable to teens today. Both teens were dealing with growing up and getting ready for things like college. At first I found the alternating narratives a bit confusing, but I soon caught on to it. It was easy to differentiate Nick from Norah and this could be because a different author wrote each character. Cohn wrote Norah’s parts and Levithan wrote Nick’s parts. The different writing styles helped create individual characters that were also believable.  I really liked her best friend Caroline who offered some comedic relief during the story. This story was a fun read, but I also had a hard time believing they were able to go all over the city at night on their own. I think it could be possible, but I felt the storyline might be more believable if they were in college. I also thought the ending of the book was perfect. I liked that Norah made the jump onto the train with Nick, like a leap of faith for the future. 

 

Reader’s Annotation


Nick asks Norah to be his pretend girlfriend for five minutes in order to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. Norah answers him with a kiss and next thing you know Nick and Norah are on an all night adventure through Manhattan.

 

Author Information

The following information was taken from the author’s biography,

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/rachel-cohn.

 

“Rachel Cohn has occasional delusions of Mary Poppins nanny grandeur. A graduate of Barnard College and a secret boy-band fanatic, Cohn lives and writes in Manhattan. She is step free but has two wonderful teenage half sisters who reside in England.”

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The following information was taken from the author’s biography,

https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Cohn/e/B001IQXNKE. 

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"The great wish of my adolescence was to be diagnosed with scoliosis. Then I would be like Deenie. I LOVED the book "Deenie" by Judy Blume. I wanted to look like Deenie; I wanted her disease; I even wanted to live in Deenie's town, Elizabeth, New Jersey, a short hop from my dream destination, New York City. Although now that I live in Manhattan as an adult (with a fairly normal spine, I'm told), Elizabeth, New Jersey is more known to me as the place with the long lines at IKEA instead of as the hometown of Deenie. Like Deenie, my priorities eventually shifted. I never did get that scoliosis diagnosis, but from my favorite childhood authors such as Judy Blume, E.L. Konigsburg and Ellen Conford, I did get inspiration for another goal: to write. I can't remember a time when I wasn't trying to create stories. When I started seriously writing fiction, I didn't set out to write specifically for young adults, but as my writing matured, it became clear that when I got stuck writing in teen voices, it was a good place to be stuck. The author question I get asked most often now is how I am able to write from the perspective of a teenager, as if I were in that character's head. The honest answer is, I don't know. I try not to think about it too much, for fear of ruining it. But I do feel like I can readily channel my own teenage self and tap into those feelings, and that's something I try to convey through the written word. When teen readers write to me now telling me how much they relate to characters I've created -- Cyd Charisse in "Gingerbread" and "Shrimp," Annabel and Lucy in "The Steps" and "Two Steps Forward," or Wonder in "Pop Princess" -- I think, I relate, too: I wanted to be Deenie!"

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The following information was taken from the author’s biography,

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/david-levithan.

 

“David Levithan is a children's book editor in New York City, and the author of several books for young adults, including Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (co-authored with Rachel Cohn); Will Grayson, Will Grayson (co-authored with John Green); and Every You, Every Me (with photographs from Jonathan Farmer). He lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.”

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The following information was taken from the author’s biography,

https://csufyabookreviews.com/2012/12/18/a-biography-of-david-levithan/. 

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"Since he published his first book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003, David Levithan has been making a positive contribution to the genre of LBGTQ YA novels. Boy Meets Boy, a “dippy happy gay teen book” as Levithan likes to describe it, features an openly gay main character named Paul who faces his sophomore year of high school and all of the drama that goes with it (davidlevithan.com). Levithan wrote this book with the purpose of creating gay characters who break the stereotypes of past literature; he does this by featuring gay teenagers living normal, satisfying lives without dwelling upon their social abuse. Often in LBGTQ literature, gay characters are defined by the way their social abuse affects them, but Levithan aims to define his characters based on who they are without conflict. Levithan says that Boy Meets Boy is neither fantasy nor reality, but is instead a novel about “where we are going, and where we should be,” as a society (davidlevithan.com). Other books that Levithan has contributed to the LBGTQ genre of young adult literature include The Full Spectrum, Wide Awake, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List and Will Grayson, Will Grayson. (2011)"

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Genre

Fiction, Romance

 

Curriculum Ties


N/A

 

Booktalking Ideas


• How do Nick and Norah help each other during the story?

• What are all the places they visit in the story?

• Who was your favorite character and why?

• What parts of the story are the same today for teens and what parts aren’t?

 

Reading Level/ Interest Age


Grades 9-12

 

Challenge Issues


Language

 

Challenge Issue Resources (for usage in a challenge situation)

• Active Listening

• Explanation of why it was chosen for the collection (Rational)

• Awards

• Reader Advisory Reviews (Students, Parents, Educators)

• Positive and Negative Reviews

• National Council of Teachers “Right to Read”

• ALA Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials

• ALA Bill of Rights on Intellectual Freedom

• Library Selection Policy & Library District Reconsideration Form

 

Why I choose it

I choose to read this book because I wanted to do a book and movie in my collection. I had seen the movie, but hadn’t read the book yet. I choose to read the book so I could put both in the collection.