It isn’t easy being different, particularly when your Value Village clothes and severe peanut allergy make you the number-one target of every mean kid in school. Word Nerd, the latest novel from veteran Degrassi screenwriter Susin Nielsen, details the life of 12-year-old Ambrose, a bright and awkward boy who just doesn’t fit in, no matter where in Canada he and his overly protective single mom move. After a trio of bullies purposefully slip a peanut into Ambrose’s sandwich, sending him into anaphylactic shock, his mother promptly pulls him out of school to be educated at home. Lonely and bored, Ambrose befriends Cosmo, the 25-year-old son of his Greek landlords, who has a dark and mysterious past. Together, the two discover a shared appreciation for Scrabble. When Ambrose discovers a flyer for a local competitive Scrabble club, he and Cosmo enter a new world where fitting in has nothing to do with wearing the right clothes or battling bullies.