The Daze
Welcome to the world of Junior High in the late 1990s.
The Daze is a nostalgic coming of age series that follows a group of friends as they navigate the ups and downs of junior high school in the late 1990s. The novellas take us back to a time of change, where the innocence of childhood is rapidly fading and the realities of adulthood are starting to set in.
Filled with laughter, heartbreak, and coming-of-age moments, “The Daze" takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions as these teens learn to embrace their individuality, stand up for what's right, and find their place in the world. Set against the backdrop of the late 1990s, the series is a nostalgic trip down memory lane for those who lived through it and a glimpse into a simpler time for those who didn't.
Whether you're reliving the past or discovering it for the first time, “The Daze" is a must-read for anyone who's ever felt lost, found their voice, or just wanted to fit in.
Volume. 1 - The First Great Year of our Lives
Step into the captivating realm of All Saints Junior High during the late 1990s, where dreams, ambitions, and aspirations intertwine within the impressionable minds of our eighth-grade students. As they embark on their educational journey, a world of possibilities awaits these young individuals, brimming with potential and a sense of wonder.
Volume. 2 - The Howl-a-Thon!
Dan cunningly enlisted both himself and an unaware Mod into the prestigious Student Activities Committee, all in pursuit of getting closer to Ali. Meanwhile, Freddy, fuelled by a burning desire to impress an older girl, passionately assembles a rock band. Ali embarks on a whirlwind romance with a popular young man from Father Serra, only to slowly uncover their glaring incompatibility. Upon deep reflection, she realizes that her association with him is more about preserving her image than genuine affection. In this dynamic school setting, the anticipation for the upcoming annual Halloween dance, affectionately known as The Howl-a-Thon, electrifies the entire student body.
Volume. 3 - First Kisses & Sugar Hiccups
Dan finds himself drowning in post-Halloween melancholy, spiralling into a sea of depression, but thanks to Freddy's ingenious idea, Mod stepped in to pull him out of his gloom by coaxing him into asking a new girl out. Freddy and Mod develop a friendship when coming together to start a rock band at school. Meanwhile, Ali discovers Bobby's betrayal towards Diana at the movies and demands he be truthful to her best friend. In the midst of these transformations, Freddy invites Mod to a backyard gathering where the allure of a mysterious girl from Saint Demetrius ensnares Mod's curiosity like a siren's call.
Volume. 4 - Birth of The Roonie Maras
Dan and Magda's blossoming relationship takes a serious turn, yet a twist emerges when Dan learns about Ali's recent split from Jonathan, resurfacing conflicting emotions. Meanwhile, Mod finds an unexpected bond with Stacey, unearthing a friendship that exposes the fault lines within his existing social circle. Amidst this turmoil, Freddy secretly secures a Christmas break gig for the band, catching his bandmates off guard and prompting them to swiftly coin a band name to match their accelerated pace.
Volume. 5 - The Teenage Politics of Chaos
Amidst the frigid grasp of winter, the group of teenagers finds themselves drawn indoors by the cold. Mod and Stacey navigate the intricate labyrinth of teenage romance. Meanwhile, mischievous Mikhele orchestrates a comical political showdown as he goads the unsuspecting Freddy into a spirited race for class presidency against the formidable Diana. Ali suddenly finds herself inundated with a flood of babysitting requests, a tidal wave of responsibility that prompts her to forge a business alliance with her resourceful best friend Claudia.
Volume. 6 - The Complicated Valentine
The eighth-grade excursion to Quebec City takes a tumultuous turn for Dan and Mod. Meanwhile, Freddy seizes an opportunity for his band, The Roonie Maras, to grace the Opera House stage. However, harmonizing with bandmates becomes a challenge. Amidst this, Ali confronts a jarring ordeal during a solo journey on the bus.
Volume. 7 - Popularity of The Shadow
Following their captivating Opera House performance, the enigmatic Roonie Maras are granted an interview with Much Music. This exposure propels Mod's popularity, fuelling his ego. Ali grapples with the aftermath of her publicized bus incident, while Dan embraces self-discovery, until an old bully resurfaces, prompting him to consider a life-altering decision. Amid fame, introspection, and confronting the past, their interconnected journeys unfold, revealing resilience and the catalysts for transformation.
Volume. 8 - Revel in your Time
Amidst the wreckage of shattered relationships, Mod grapples with the fragments of his life. Rekindling with old friends becomes his path to healing. Meanwhile, Mark's duality surfaces—adoring Ali while displaying hurtful conduct towards others. In another thread, Principal Austin enlists Freddy's help to have The Roonie Maras perform for an influential alumni at a school event, setting the stage for intertwining fates.
Volume. 9 - The New Dawn
As spring blooms, Mark's conflict with Dan escalates to a war-like showdown. Mod reunites with The Rooney Maras, yet faces a maturity trial upon learning of Stacey's new romance. Freddy becomes an unwitting scapegoat in Ali's missing money case. A captivating blonde girl captures Mod's interest. Insecurity driving him, Perri implores his friends to aid in his quest for fireworks, aiming to impress his peers at a classmate's party.
Volume. 10 - The Legacy of us Saints
As the final month of eighth grade marks the end of their time at All Saints School, Mod is determined to unite his classmates for a memorable celebration. Yet, inner circle disruptions send ripples through his plans, challenging both friendships and his vision of togetherness.
Volume. 11 - The Summer of '99
It’s the summer of 1999! Dan rallies his friends for a shared job venture. Amid this, Ali grapples with feeling excluded due to her lack of summer plans, prompting her to embark on a personal mission. Suspicion arises when Jen notices the peculiar dynamic between a solitary Stacey and Mod. Meanwhile, Freddy undertakes an introspective journey, struggling to nurture compassion for his closest friends.
Volume. 12 - Fade of The Street Lights
Mod's accident profoundly impacts everyone, casting a long shadow over the final month of summer. It serves as a poignant reminder of the fleeting nature of childhood, stirring mixed emotions. Dan, in particular, undergoes a transformation, comprehending life's fragility and the significance of enduring friendships. This period of introspection reveals that true leadership often demands personal sacrifices.
The Eighth Grade Daze:
Mapping a Year Before Everything Changed
There are stories about adolescence that try to summarize it, and then there are stories that simply sit inside it. The Daze belongs firmly to the second category.
Set in Etobicoke between September 1998 and August 1999, the series doesn’t frame junior high as a stepping stone or a warm-up act for “real life.” Instead, it treats eighth grade as a complete world, one with its own laws, alliances, hierarchies, rituals, and quiet devastations. Reading the twelve volumes back-to-back feels less like consuming a traditional narrative and more like revisiting a year that still lives somewhere in muscle memory.
What makes The Daze distinct is not nostalgia, but precision. The series unfolds month by month, allowing the reader to experience time the way teenagers do, slowly, intensely, and without the benefit of hindsight. September is tentative. October sharpens. Winter closes in. Spring loosens its grip. Summer diffuses everything.
There are no grand plot twists or artificially inflated stakes. Instead, meaning accumulates through, conversations that trail off, friendships that subtly rearrange themselves, reputations that form without permission, moments that feel ordinary until they’re gone. This structure mirrors real adolescence. Nothing announces itself as important— until suddenly it is. By the time Fade of the Street Lights closes the series, the reader understands that eighth grade didn’t “end” so much as dissolve. People drift. Certainty thins. The feeling of being held by a shared environment quietly slips away.
One of the series’ greatest strengths is its cast. No character exists in isolation. Everyone is defined by proximity, tension, and shared space. Mod operates as the observer— sensitive, inward, quietly absorbing everything without trying to control it. Dan is emotional gravity: loyal, reactive, and learning the cost of endurance. Rocca provides structure and steadiness, often unnoticed until it’s needed. Perri injects chaos and momentum, embodying the restless urge to feel something. Ali navigates popularity with self-awareness, resisting the roles others project onto her. Freddy moves through the margins with defiance and guarded loyalty, already in conflict with systems he hasn’t fully named yet. Jen, Stacey, Vickey, Claudia, Vanessa, and others round out a group that feels lived-in rather than curated, each responding differently to the same social pressures.
What’s striking is how little the series explains these people. Their personalities emerge through behaviour, music, silence, and reaction. Nobody is flattened into a type. Even moments of cruelty are contextualized, not excused. This isn’t a story about heroes and villains. It’s about kids learning how power works before they have the language to describe it.
The 1998–99 setting is not used as an aesthetic gimmick. There’s no retro indulgence, no ironic distance. Music, clothing, and cultural references appear naturally as background radiation rather than decoration. The absence of phones, social media, and documentation matters. Everything happens in real time. Reputations are formed through word of mouth. Humiliation is unrecorded but unforgettable. Memory is the only archive. The soundtrack functions the way it did back then as identity, shelter, signal. Songs aren’t named to impress the reader; they exist because the characters would actually be listening to them. This restraint is what keeps The Daze from feeling like a period piece. It feels current because the emotions are.
The Eighth Grade Daze doesn’t conclude with resolution. There’s no final reckoning, no emotional bow. Instead, it ends with awareness. By August 1999, the characters haven’t “learned lessons.” They’ve learned how fragile belonging is, and how quickly systems can disappear. The security of junior high— familiar faces, known hierarchies, earned reputations fades quietly. This is what makes the bridge to freshman year not just logical, but inevitable.
What the series does so well is prepare the reader emotionally for what comes next. Eighth grade, in retrospect, is revealed as the last environment where: status felt earned, power was local, identity was negotiated among peers. High school will not offer those protections.
By the time the reader reaches the end of Series One, they understand that freshman year won’t be an escalation— it will be an erasure. Whatever confidence or safety these characters had will be stripped away and tested inside a system that does not know or care who they were. That understanding gives weight to what follows.
The Eighth Grade Daze succeeds because it refuses to treat adolescence as either trauma or comedy. It treats it as life, fully lived, before adulthood reframes it. For readers who grew up in the late ’90s, the series feels like recognition. For younger readers, it offers something rarer than advice: context. It says: This mattered. You mattered. And even though it’s gone, it wasn’t nothing. That’s not nostalgia. That’s preservation.
- S.M Jenco