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Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Throughout Booked, Alexander encourages readers to recognize the value of words and the books that contain them. Nick’s character arc begins with his resentment over words and frustration with his father. Nick claims that his dad suffers from verbomania, or “a crazed obsession for words” (4). His English teacher and the school librarian also badger Nick about reading books for class and for extra-curricular fun.
Nick may claim to “HATE / words” (5) and love only soccer, but he secretly shares his father’s obsession. Nick flexes his large vocabulary in daily life and takes pleasure in words like limerence and sweven. He also uses words like pugilism, rapprochement, and twain, which Nick defines via footnotes that mirror the footnotes in his dad’s dictionary. However, Nick tells Dr. Fraud, “I don’t like being forced to sound smart” (273). Nick, then, may not hate words at all, but he recoils at his father’s strict demands.
It’s only as Nick’s relationship with April develops that he comes to value his intelligence and his vocabulary. His crush compliments his use of the word prestigious and invites him to read the books she likes. Although Nick starts reading to earn TV time in the hospital and maintain a connection with April, he becomes interested in reading for its own sake.