Jerk, California

Twitch, Jerk, Freak—Sam Carrier has been called them all. Because of his Tourette’s syndrome, Sam is in near constant motion with tics and twitches and verbal outbursts. So, of course, high school is nothing but torment. Forget friends; forget even hoping that beautiful, perfect Naomi will look his way. And home isn’t much better with his domineering stepfather reminding him that the only person who was more useless than Sam was his dead father, Jack. But then an unexpected turn of events unearths the truth about his father. And suddenly Sam doesn’t know who he is, or even where he’ll go next. What he does know is that the only girl in the world who can make him happy and nervous at the same time is everywhere he turns . . . and he’d give anything just to be still.

Jerk, California is Jonathan Friesen-'s first novel. A fourteen-year public school teacher and writing instructor at the University of Minnesota, Jonathan shares his passion for writing with children of all ages-ùincluding three of his own, whom he home schools. Visit www.jonathanfriesen.com. He lives in Mora, Minnesota.