National Indie Book Awards   Next Generation Indie Book Awards   Eric Hoffer Award Finalist in Children's Literature 2024
2024 Book Awards

Brimming with hope, humor, and possibility, best friends and annoying hangers-on, ridiculous teachers and more ridiculous family members, indignities, sorrows, despair, and triumph, Nilsen builds a story that feels so real, I could almost feel the flutter of butterflies doing backflips in my own stomach. A sharply-drawn and big-hearted story. I loved every single page.

Kelly Barnhill, Newbery Medal–winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon

With Worldwide Crush, Kristin Nilsen establishes herself as a vibrant new voice in coming-of-age fiction. This funny, big-hearted novel explores family, friendship, and the intoxicating power of first crushes with sometimes cringeworthy accuracy. Readers still in the throes of tweendom will be as charmed by Millie’s emotional journey as those who attended middle school long ago. A winning pick for all generations!

Megan McCafferty, New York Times best-selling author of Best Frenemies Forever and the Jessica Darling series

Kristin Nilsen nails the angst of falling for a teen heartthrob in Worldwide Crush. The countless laugh-out-loud moments were reminiscent of my own crush on Shaun Cassidy. Tween readers will love this debut. Highly recommend!

Cindy Callaghan, author of My Big Heart-Shaped Fail

Bursting with humor and feverish popstar fandom, Worldwide Crush is a joyous and heart-warming read that chronicles the big emotions of a middle school girl as she navigates her foray into teenagehood, diehard crushes, and a discovery of her sense of worth and self. A delightfully relatable, unapologetically authentic story, complete with laughs and nostalgia, that will resonate with middle school girls everywhere!

Payal Doshi, author of Rea and the Blood of the Nectar

The writing is just like Judy Blume! Except better.

Kristin's Mom
National Indie Book Awards   Next Generation Indie Book Awards   Eric Hoffer Award Finalist in Children's Literature 2024
2024 Book Awards

Brimming with hope, humor, and possibility, best friends and annoying hangers-on, ridiculous teachers and more ridiculous family members, indignities, sorrows, despair, and triumph, Nilsen builds a story that feels so real, I could almost feel the flutter of butterflies doing backflips in my own stomach. A sharply-drawn and big-hearted story. I loved every single page.

Kelly Barnhill, Newbery Medal–winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon

With Worldwide Crush, Kristin Nilsen establishes herself as a vibrant new voice in coming-of-age fiction. This funny, big-hearted novel explores family, friendship, and the intoxicating power of first crushes with sometimes cringeworthy accuracy. Readers still in the throes of tweendom will be as charmed by Millie’s emotional journey as those who attended middle school long ago. A winning pick for all generations!

Megan McCafferty, New York Times best-selling author of Best Frenemies Forever and the Jessica Darling series

Kristin Nilsen nails the angst of falling for a teen heartthrob in Worldwide Crush. The countless laugh-out-loud moments were reminiscent of my own crush on Shaun Cassidy. Tween readers will love this debut. Highly recommend!

Cindy Callaghan, author of My Big Heart-Shaped Fail

Bursting with humor and feverish popstar fandom, Worldwide Crush is a joyous and heart-warming read that chronicles the big emotions of a middle school girl as she navigates her foray into teenagehood, diehard crushes, and a discovery of her sense of worth and self. A delightfully relatable, unapologetically authentic story, complete with laughs and nostalgia, that will resonate with middle school girls everywhere!

Payal Doshi, author of Rea and the Blood of the Nectar

The writing is just like Judy Blume! Except better.

Kristin's Mom

A bit about me…

Kristin Nilsen has been a children’s librarian, a bookseller, a perfume seller, a horse poop shoveler, a typist (on an actual typewriter), a storyteller, a seventh grader, and a mom to both humans and dogs. Today she is a self-proclaimed Pro Crushologist who talks about Gen X pop culture on The Pop Culture Preservation Society podcast. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, one of the only big cities in the world where you can look out your window and see a lake. Which she likes. A lot.

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