A lighter-than-air tale features Max Carmody, a sixth-grader with a mania (if not, from the evidence at each chapter’s head, a talent) for standup, whose attempt to compete in a national comedy contest hits all sorts of snags. Korman surrounds his Seinfeld wannabe with semi-dysfunctional friends, and propels him through a series of efforts, first, to record a demo CD, then to find a live audience on which to practice his routine, and finally to make the audition despite parental resistance, bad weather, wrong turns and mechanical breakdown. After all that, he arrives too late to show his stuff—but his CD, recorded with a canned laugh track that turns out to be a tape of a cow giving birth, makes even the national news and earns him a triumphal gig at a local comedy club. Max’s lame or fragmentary jokes won’t come close to bringing the house down, but some of the more farcical set pieces here might, and the author artfully injects family and friendship issues that bulk the tale up without weighing it down. A rib-tickling followup performance to Sachar’s Dogs Don’t Tell Jokes (1991) or Levy’s My Life as a Fifth Grade Comedian (1997). (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-7868-0746-6
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2003
An eminently satisfying story of family, recovery, and growing into manhood.
In this prequel to Newbery Award–winning The Crossover (2014), Alexander revisits previous themes and formats while exploring new ones.
For Charlie Bell, the future father of The Crossover’s Jordan and Josh, his father’s death alters his relationship with his mother and causes him to avoid what reminds him of his dad. At first, he’s just withdrawn, but after he steals from a neighbor, his mother packs a reluctant Charlie off to his grandparents near Washington, D.C., for the summer. His grandfather works part-time at a Boys and Girls Club where his cousin Roxie is a star basketball player. Despite his protests, she draws him into the game. His time with his grandparents deepens Charlie’s understanding of his father, and he begins to heal. “I feel / a little more normal, / like maybe he’s still here, / … in a / as long as I remember him / he’s still right here / in my heart / kind of way.” Once again, Alexander has given readers an African-American protagonist to cheer. He is surrounded by a strong supporting cast, especially two brilliant female characters, his friend CJ and his cousin Roxie, as well as his feisty and wise granddaddy. Music and cultural references from the late 1980s add authenticity. The novel in verse is enhanced by Anyabwile’s art, which reinforces Charlie’s love for comics.
An eminently satisfying story of family, recovery, and growing into manhood. (Historical verse fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-86813-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
SEEN & HEARD
A sixth-grader and an inexperienced teacher both learn something from each other in Clements’s newest teachable-moment-driven school tale. Hart Evans has always, and effortlessly, been Cool—a talent that backfires when his control-freak music teacher, Mr. Meinert, throws up his hands and leaves it to the unruly school chorus to elect its own director for the upcoming Holiday Concert. Hart surprises both Mr. Meinert and himself by rising brilliantly to the occasion. Clements stirs a few side issues into the pot—for one, Meinert and the other arts teachers are being laid off on January first—but his focus being Hart’s introduction to group dynamics and the management thereof, complications of plot or character cause only minor ripples. Having learned the value of listening, of running things democratically, and of knowing when to seek help, Hart and Meinert engineer a quirky, rousing triumph—that, no, doesn’t save Meinert’s job, but does leave everyone involved, readers included, with both good feelings and the idea that both young people and adults are sometimes guilty of underestimating each other. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-84516-2
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2004
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