James Patterson’s Laugh Out Loud Inspires Reluctant Readers, Book Nerds, and Dreamers

In this new book, Patterson and Grabenstein give readers a meta narrative with a behind-the-scenes look into starting a book imprint for kids: 12-year-old Jimmy loves reading, and he believes if there’s a kid that doesn’t love reading, they just haven’t found the right book yet. Jimmy has a big imagination and big dreams—he wants to start his own book company for kids, run by kids, making books that kids really want to read. And he has a giant folder filled with awesome ideas for stories. However, all of the adults in his life—parents, teachers, bankers, entrepreneurs, and more—laugh in his face when they hear about his plans for a book company just as fun and zany as Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, complete with a Ferris wheel instead of a freight elevator, a bowling alley, free nachos, and a river flowing through the factory with floating books.

Fans of Patterson’s bestselling middle grade books will love all of the author’s self-referential touches. Jimmy covers most of them at the end of his book with a who’s who list, including Madison, Jimmy’s neighbor who became Maddie in House of Robots, and a gutsy guy in a wheelchair, who inspired Jamie Grimm in the I Funny books, among many others. It can be hard as a reader to know where fictional Jimmy ends and the book’s real author James Patterson begins—and that’s all part of the fun in reading this book.

That said, Patterson and Grabenstein’s latest is also an outstanding pick for the biggest book nerds among us. I mean, what book nerd hasn’t dreamed of a book theme park or had ambitions for a book-related dream job? And with all of his daydreaming, Jimmy finds himself falling into all sorts of famous stories, like Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach, Star Wars, and Harry Potter—much to the delight of all the lit lovers reading and taking notes on all the books they need to revisit or add to their must-read lists. Even Neil Gaiman gets a fashionable reference in the book.