THE BOY WHO MADE EVERYONE LAUGH

Billy faces his speech impediment with a lot of determination and a little help from his friends.

English 11-year-old Billy Plimpton is like most other boys, with one exception: He has a bad stutter that makes it almost impossible for him to practice his favorite hobby: telling jokes. Billy loves jokes, but his stutter undermines his ability to tell them fluently. It causes endless embarrassment in encounters with everyone except his immediate family, and a move to a new school makes everything worse. Billy concludes that his only choice is to remain silent until one of his remedies works—but his forced reticence makes him a natural target for the school bully. Help comes in the shape of a caring teacher who spots Billy’s natural drumming ability and encourages him to take up percussion, which doesn’t require him to speak in order to express himself. Although Billy fails to discover a cure for stuttering, he learns the value of friendship, to embrace his disability, and even how to turn it to his advantage in a remarkable impromptu stand-up performance. Billy’s first-person narrative is funny, authentic, and moving. His maturation as he learns to come to terms with his speech impediment develops naturally and will be encouraging for readers facing similar challenges. Main characters present White; Billy’s teacher is of Nigerian descent.

A boy who stutters learns how to make lemonade out of lemons.