I Funny
2012
- middle school students
- bullying
- middle schools
- juvenile fiction
- bullies
- family life
- comedians
- fiction
- stand-up comedy
- people with disabilities
The story
Jamie Grimm spends summer overcoming challenges to be the next comedian on stage.
What it’s like
Bright, brisk and talky, with the voice doing nearly all the work: a chatty first-person narration full of punchlines, asides and running jokes, set in the ordinary, slightly chaotic textures of a middle-school summer. The prose is short-paragraphed and quick to turn, with lists, doodled-style interruptions and plenty of white space, so it reads fast and light on a lazy afternoon or a long train ride. The mood is warm, wry and hopeful, with an undercurrent of bruised self-consciousness that softens into encouragement; it feels like sitting with a funny, slightly anxious kid who is working things out out loud. Bullying and cruelty appear as real sting, but they stay at the level of taunts, humiliation and school-yard unkindness, with no violence or gore and nothing sexual or frightening. Family life, friendship and a character with a disability are handled with humour and sincerity. The pacing is brisk and chapter-driven, and the emotional arc is a young performer learning to find his footing and trust the people around him. Good for middle-grade readers, reluctant readers, and adults who want something gentle, funny and quick.
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