about the book
What am I doing here at the comedy club, oozing buckets of flop sweat, baking under the hot spotlights, facing hundreds of strangers, everyone waiting for some hysterically funny joke? Did I really think I could win the Planet’s Funniest Kid Comic Contest? Me, Jamie Grimm? What was I thinking!!!
I’m choking up here. My mind is totally blank! I squeak out a lame line about a Mrs Darth Vadar-like substitute teacher and get a weak titter. That wasn’t so bad. Maybe I can do this? Me, the sit-down comedian?
I’m in a wheelchair. Can you deal with that? Somedays I can’t even deal. So I decided to make people laugh. Been teaching myself how to be funny, consumed every joke book, obsessed over the greats, and filled dozens of notepads with one-liners. “Wow!” I say to the crowd. “Standing room only. Good thing I brought my own chair.” The second chuckle is much bigger. I’m pumped now. I can do this!
Want to know how I ended up on this stage? It’s a long story—about my parents and my sister, my aunt’s humorless family and her mean son, Stevie. He’s the middle school bully and my sort-of new brother. Stevie thinks it’s hilarious to leave me stranded in the middle of a New York City’s Long Beach sand dune. Ain’t that a kick in the pants—literally!
You see, comedy is serious business for me. It’s my defense against the past, it masks my personal pain, and it is my only hope for the future…and maybe it might just help me get a date with the beautiful girl I’m crushing on. I really have to win this competition. That is, if the judges don’t give me pity points. Now let me tell you my next one-liner. It’s a real humdinger!
about the authors
James Patterson was born in Newburgh, New York, to an insurance broker and a teacher. While studying English at Manhattan College, James met poet Robert Lowell, who suggested James might like writing. He gave it a try, but then opted for teaching instead; however, he didn’t enjoy those classes.
After earning a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University, James became a junior copy writer at an advertising agency. During the evenings he started writing again.
After receiving more than two dozen rejections, James’s first book was published in 1976. He continued writing at night and working at the advertising agency, eventually being appointed the CEO of the company. He retired to write full time in 1996.
So far, James has published 98 novels for adults and younger readers and sold more than 300 million copies of his novels and more than ten million e-books! On most of his projects, he writes a 60-80 page summary of the novel and hires a co-writer to do the line-by-line work. He edits the work closely, juggling three or four projects at once. So far, he and Chris Grabenstein have co-written five novels for children, two in the I Funny series.
Through his Page Turner Award, James has given more than $850,000 to those who have found original ways to spread the excitement of books and reading. He has also donated hundreds of thousands of books to schools and troops overseas. James, wife Susan, and son Jack have homes in New York and Florida.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography : Wikipedia
Author interview : Book Reporter
Author interview : Parade Magazine
Also by James Patterson:
House of Robots (Book 1) with Chris Grabenstein. Little, Brown and Company. 2014.
Danger Down the Nile (Treasure Hunters, Book 2) with Chris Grabenstein. Little, Brown and Company. 2014.
Middle School : Big Fat Liar (Middle School, Book 7) with Chris Tebbetts. Little, Brown and Company. 2014.
Middle School : Save Rafe! (Middle School, Book 6) with Chris Tebbetts. Little, Brown and Company. 2014.
Middle School : Ultimate Showdown (Middle School, Book 5) with Chris Tebbetts. Little, Brown and Company. 2014.
I Even Funnier : A Middle School Story (I Funny, Book 2) with Chris Grabenstein. 2013.
Middle School : How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill (Middle School, Book 4) with Chris Tebbetts. Little, Brown and Company. 2013.
Treasure Hunters (Book 1) with Chris Grabenstein. Little, Brown and Company. 2013.
Middle School : My Brother Is a Big, Fat Liar (Middle School, Book 3) with Chris Tebbetts. Little, Brown and Company. 2013.
Middle School : Get Me Out of Here! (Middle School, Book 2) with Chris Tebbetts. Little, Brown and Company. 2012.
Middle School : The Worst Years of My Life (Middle School, Book 1) with Chris Tebbetts. Little, Brown and Company. 2011.
Chris Grabenstein was born in Buffalo, New York, and moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, when he was ten. He was the middle child of five boys and grew up playing board games. It was Chris’s only chance to beat his older, more athletic, brothers fair and square.
Terrible at sports, Chris figured out that he could “be cool” by being a good writer. He loved making his classmates laugh at his stories, and his eighth grade teacher predicted he would make his living as a writer some day. She must have been clairvoyant!
Encouraged by that teacher, Chris set out to learn all he could about writing. He wrote a lot of plays and stories while in college and then bought a one-way ticket to New York City. He arrived with little cash, seven suitcases, and the Smith-Corona typewriter he got as a high school graduation gift.
For five years Chris worked odd jobs while performing improv in Greenwich Village and on the college tour circuit. He then worked in advertising for twenty years. He got his big break writing for The Muppets and then turned to writing adult mysteries and screenplays. He also co-wrote novels for younger readers with famed author James Patterson.
Now the author of more than 20 books, he admits he is most proud of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library—which he says is his love letter to the libraries and librarians he never got to know as a child.
Chris lives in New York City with his wife, his dog Fred (who appeared on Broadway), and his three writing-assistant cats: Parker (who head butts Chris’s computer-mouse hand), Tiger Lilly (who traipses across the keyboard), and Phoebe Squeak (who purrs when she approves of Chris’s prose).
Sources:
Author website
Author biography : Goodreads
Author interview : The Boy Reader
Author interview : Author Turf
Also by Chris Grabenstein:
Danger Down the Nile (Treasure Hunters, Book 2) with James Patterson. Little, Brown and Company. 2014.
I Even Funnier : A Middle School Story (I Funny, Book 2) with James Patterson. Little, Brown and Company. 2013.
Treasure Hunters (Book 1) with James Patterson. Little, Brown and Company. 2013.
I Funny : A Middle School Story (I Funny, Book 1) with James Patterson. Little, Brown and Company. 2012.
The Black Heart Crypt (Haunted Places Mystery, Book 4). Random House Books for Young Readers. 2011.
The Smoky Corridor (Haunted Places Mystery, Book 3). Random House Books for Young Readers. 2010.
The Hanging Hill (Haunted Places Mystery, Book 2). Random House Books for Young Readers. 2009.
The Crossroads (Haunted Places Mystery, Book 1). Random House. 2008.
read more!
How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart
David has just begun middle school, which is a scary thing. His idol is John Stewart, but how can he hope to become famous and have his own comedy show? Maybe with his TalkTime videos on YouTube? And when he gains a new friend in the—gasp!—girl named Sophie, his life gets even more complicated.
I Even Funnier : A Middle School Story (I Funny, Book 2) by James Patterson
Though confined to a wheel chair, Jamie has already proved he’s the funniest kid in his middle school and in New York. Now he is off to the Planet’s Funniest Kid Comic contest in Boston. But with life throwing a few more curve balls his way, can Jamie put aside his big dreams and make a sacrifice for the people he loves, his new family?
Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life (Middle School, Book 1) by James Patterson
Entering middle school, Rafe is overwhelmed by all the rules he is required to follow. Teaming up with his best friend, the imaginary “Leo the Silent,” he decides to create a game to make school more fun—he’s going to break every rule in the school’s code of conduct!