My Life is a Joke

September 1, 2017
Grades 4-6 In 1991, 12-year-old Jacky and her older sisters must find summer jobs to help support the family. Soon she's running the Balloon Race game on the Jersey Shore boardwalk. Though she never stutters while amusing customers with her wisecracking carny patter, her tryout for A Midsummer Night's Dream is a near disaster. Still, she lands a small part. Later, after the Balloon Race booth is robbed and she loses her job, she puts her acting skills to practical use, setting a mousetrap to catch the thief. Lines from Shakespearean dialogue, along with facts about his plays and Elizabethan stagecraft, are woven into the story. As in Jacky Ha-Ha (2016), the framework introduces Jacky as an adult, a successful actress reminiscing for her two daughters. Black-and-white drawings with speech balloons illustrate the narrative and underscore its humor. Often impulsive but later reflective, the young Jacky makes mistakes and learns from them. Whether she's helping a sister, solving a crime, or dealing with a boy's first stumbling steps toward romance, this chapter book is engaging from start to finish. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Patterson and Grabenstein's latest big-time series will fly off the shelves, and that's no joke.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)