Title: My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters

Author: Sydney Salter

Series: Stand-alone

Genre: Contemporary (YA)

Pages: 352 Pages (Paperback)

Original Publication Date: April 1, 2009

Overall Rating:
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Summary from Goodreads

It’s the end of junior year, and summer is about to begin. The Summer of Passion, to be exact, when Jory Michaels plans to explore all the possibilities of the future–and, with any luck, score a boyfriend in the process. But Jory has a problem. A big problem. A curvy, honking, bumpy, problem in the form of her Super Schnozz, the one thing standing between Jory and happiness. And now, with the Summer of Passion stretched before her like an open road, she’s determined for Super Schnozz to disappear.

Jory takes a job delivering wedding cakes to save up for a nose job at the end of the summer; she even keeps a book filled with magazine cutouts of perfect noses to show the doctor. But nothing is ever easy for accident-prone Jory–and before she knows it, her Summer of Passion falls apart faster than the delivery van she crashes. In her hilarious and heartbreaking debut novel, Sydney Salter delivers a story about broadening your horizons, accepting yourself, and finding love right under your nose.

My Thoughts

I didn’t have high expectations for this book because it’s written by a local author.  I know that sounds kind of mean, but most of the books I’ve read by local authors have only been just so so, apart from Shannon Hale.  However, I was pleasantly surprised with My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters.

I really enjoyed the story.  The message of learning to love yourself the way you are is conveyed in hilarious, heartbreaking, and all-too-real, disastrous moments most people can relate to just because they attended high school at some point in their life.

I enjoyed seeing Jory grow and start to love herself, even with the Super Schnozz.  Some of the themes and messages were a little too close for my comfort, but I think it helped me identify with Jory a little more.  I think Salter did a great job using humor to convey all the embarrassing moments one feels during high school.  And, even though you just wanted to give Jory a huge hug because of all the mishaps she was going through, you couldn’t help but laugh during some of her overly dramatic thoughts and embarrassing moments.