AIN'T IT FUNNY

Maya Greenspan, a sixth grader living in New Jersey, finds herself navigating her parents’ separation and school pressures, all while helping at her family’s deli and grocery store.

Maya’s dad has moved to New York City to work on his stand-up comedy career, while Maya, her mother, and Baba (her grandmother) live together above the Russian Gourmet, selling traditional Russian dishes. Driven to reunite her parents, Maya devises a plan: She’ll perform a stand-up routine at the school talent show in hopes that it will draw her father to reconnect with her and her mom. A sprinkling of Russian phrases and words throughout the text, as well as descriptions of the preparation of foods like piroshki, pelmeni, sufganiyot, and fried mashed potatoes, add to the cultural experience and immersion in Maya’s world. Themes of bullying, friendship difficulties, and mental health support are handled with sensitivity and authenticity. Budding comedians will also enjoy the humor and the useful sections that explain the process of creating a joke, along with tips for performing stand-up routines. There’s no unrealistically tidy resolution, but after a panic attack at school, Maya has an honest talk with her dad and starts seeing a therapist, where she begins receiving essential support for generalized anxiety and “OCD tendencies.” Maya’s family is Jewish. Pages from a notebook with a few family recipes follow the final chapter.

A culturally textured, heartfelt story of dislocation and growth.