My Life as a Cartoonist (My Life Series #3)

by Janet Tashjian, Jake Tashjian (Illustrator)

Overview

Derek Fallon's well-intentioned plan to help a new classmate takes a hilarious and unexpected turn in this engaging middle grade novel.

There's a new kid in Derek Fallon's class. His name is Umberto and he uses a wheelchair. With his family still fostering Frank the monkey, Derek thinks it would be great to train Frank to assist Umberto. But he quickly realizes that Umberto is definitely not looking for any help. Instead, Derek becomes the target of Umberto's jokes and finds his cartoon ideas being stolen and claimed as Umberto's own. Caught in an awkward predicament, Derek must find a way out of this mess before he becomes the laughingstock of school. The solution may lie in his own cartoon strip—SUPER FRANK!

My Life as a Cartoonist, the third book in the popular "My Life . . ." series, features illustrations by Janet Tashjian's son, Jake Tashjian. This humorous chapter book is perfect for reluctant readers and tackles themes of friendship, disabilities, bullying, and finding one's voice in a realistic middle school setting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780805098952
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	04/30/2013
Series:	Janet Tashjian's My Life Series , #3
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Lexile:	860L (what's this?)
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Janet Tashjian is the author of many popular novels including My Life as a Stuntboy and My Life as a Book, both illustrated by her son, Jake Tashjian; as well as The Gospel According to Larry and For What It's Worth. She lives with her family in Los Angeles, California.

Read an Excerpt

Super Frank!

 

improved

“That’s great!” my dad says as he puts the comic strip down. “Your drawings have really improved.”

I look over my father’s shoulder and examine my work. “No matter how long I work on it, my printing still looks like I’m in second grade.”

professional

“It takes a lot of practice for lettering to look professional.”

As if that’s any kid’s idea of fun—sitting around on a sunny afternoon filling notebooks with row after row of straight block letters.

flattered

My father closes the cover of the pad and hands it back to me. “Too bad Frank doesn’t know he’s the star of your comic strip. He’d be flattered.”

Dad doesn’t realize I’ve already shown Frank my drawings. It may be my imagination but by the way my capuchin monkey jumped up and down, I think he WAS flattered.

“Mac and cheese with stewed tomatoes,” Mom calls from the kitchen. “Wash up and come to the table.”

cringe

My father and I look at each other and cringe. “Why does she take something perfect like macaroni and cheese then throw something terrible like stewed tomatoes in to wreck it?” I ask.

“You know how Mom likes to sneak healthy food into everything,” Dad whispers back. “But I have to agree with you—it’s a crime to mess with mac and cheese.”

inadvertently

As I put away my pad, I realize Dad’s inadvertently given me the plot of my next comic strip: SUPER FRANK VS. THE WOMAN WHO WRECKED MAC AND CHEESE.

I can’t wait until Ms. McCoddle’s class tomorrow to start working on it.

 

Text copyright © 2013 by Janet Tashjian

Editorial Reviews

When a wheelchair-bound kid arrives in his classroom, Derek has a bright idea. He decides to train the family's pet monkey to help Umberto. But the new kid isn't appreciative; in fact, he resents the idea and begins making jokes about Derek. Before long, things escalate: Umberto begins pilfering Derek's cartoon ideas and claiming that he is the victim of theft. Finally, Derek decides that there is only one way to save his endangered reputation: a cartoon strip. A humanizing story about personal relations.

“Give this to kids who think they don't like reading. It might change their minds.” —Booklist, starred review on My Life as a Book

“Cartoonist Derek grapples with a perplexing association between disability and bullying in this stand-alone sequel to My Life as a Book (2010) and My Life as a Stuntboy (2011).” —Kirkus Reviews

“A kinder, gentler Wimpy Kid with all the fun and more plot.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review on My Life as a Book

“Sure to engage fans of Jeff Kinney's ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid' books as well as those looking for a spunky, contemporary boy with a mystery to solve.” —School Library Journal on My Life as a Book

From the Publisher

Cartoonist Derek grapples with a perplexing association between disability and bullying in this stand-alone sequel to My Life as a Book (2010) and My Life as a Stuntboy (2011). Derek has two best friends at school and two beloved critters at home, including Frank, a capuchin monkey who's practicing family life before training as a service animal. Frank's the model for Derek's comic, Super Frank. Drawing's a fun challenge; reading's a difficult chore, though the stick-figure cartoons with which Derek illustrates his vocabulary words enliven the margins. Each playful sketch portrays a word from the adjacent paragraph but in an amusingly different context--"ingenious" shows up as a cupcake machine. Derek's life takes a turn for the worse when transfer-student Umberto targets him. Umberto steals Derek's cartoon ideas and makes him a "verbal punching bag." The bullying arc is fairly standard, but the bully isn't, at least physically: Umberto uses a wheelchair. On one hand, Tashjian creates a real anti-stereotype in this speedy wheeling boy who could (and would) easily crush Derek with a lacrosse stick if teachers weren't around. However, after the boys bond, Derek's funny narrative voice ("Frank's fur is now covered in a helmet of peanut butter") indulges in a few adult-sounding, rose-colored disability clichés, saying that Umberto possesses "honesty and grace" and "inspires me." This entertaining read leaves some provoking questions unanswered--usefully. (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews