My Life as a Stuntboy (My Life Series #2)

by Janet Tashjian, Jake Tashjian (Illustrator)

Overview

Derek Fallon gets the opportunity of a lifetime—to be a stunt boy in a major movie featuring a pretty teen starlet. After accepting the job he learns that he is the star's stunt double and must wear a wig! His friends are never going to let him live this down. If that weren't his only problem, his parents are threatening to give away his pet monkey, and his best friend just posted an embarrassing video of him on Youtube. Can life get any worse? Still the irrepressible Derek takes it all in stride and even manages to save the day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250010384
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	04/07/2015
Series:	The My Life series , #2
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	117,116
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	810L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Janet Tashjian is a middle-grade and young adult novelist who’s been writing books for children for over two decades. Her first novel Tru Confessions was made into a critically acclaimed Disney TV movie starring Clara Bryant and Shia LaBeouf. The Gospel According to Larry series is a cult favorite and Fault Line is taught in many middle and high schools. Her bestselling My Life As a Book series is illustrated by her son, Jake. They also collaborated on the Einstein the Class Hamster series.

Janet collaborated with fellow Macmillan author Laurie Keller on the chapter book series Marty Frye, Private Eye. Janet currently lives in Los Angeles and made her new home city the setting of the Sticker Girl series, which details the adventures of Martina who overcomes being shy with the help of her magical stickers that come to life.

Jake Tashjian is the illustrator for the My Life As a...series, including My Life As a Ninja and My Life As a YouTuber. Jake also created and illustrated the Einstein the Class Hamster series. He collaborates on his novels with his mother, author Janet Tashjian. He has also illustrated several books for the author P.T. Evans.

Fun fact: Jake is a visual learner. When Jake was in elementary school, he used to draw his vocabulary words on index cards. This later became the inspiration for the main character, Derek, in the My Life As series.

In 2016 Jake co-founded Workshop 2.0, a non-profit foundation to train and hire other young artists on the Autism Spectrum.

Jake grew up in Massachusetts and currently lives in Los Angeles. He is an avid surfer and filmmaker.

Read an Excerpt

My Life as a Stuntboy

 

 

Help!
THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IS always the worst day of the year. It's like some crazy surgeon throws you on an operating table and removes a major organ from your chest called summer. He doesn't realize how much a kid needs that organ, as much as a liver or a spleen.
I feel almost bruised being back at school, and I haven't even made itto class yet. Maybe if I go to the nurse, she'll take pity on me and hook me up to an emergency life support system. But before I can make any last wishes, my friend Matt punches me in the arm and jolts me back from my daytime nightmare.
"This year definitely won't be as bad as the others." Matt realizes the price tag is hanging from the sleeve of his shirt so he yanks it off as we talk.
When we found out we would have Mr. Maroni this year, Matt and I were almost excited about school.
"It'll be great to finally have a guy teacher--I've never had one." I imagine a school filled with male teachers, couches, potato chips, and flat-screen TVs.
Matt shakes me from my reverieby making a buzzing noise like they use on game shows to get rid of a losing contestant. "They just announced that Mr. Maroni's father died two days ago, and Mr. Maroni is moving to Cincinnati to take care of his mother."
"WHAT?" The first day of school is bad enough without getting hit with a massive curveball while you're still at your locker.
"Want to know who we have instead?" Matt asks.
I can't even begin to guess who'll be the master of my universe this year.
"Ms. McCuddles."
It's not that I dislike Ms. McCoddle--she's nice, young, and has super-blond hair--but Matt and I had her way back in kindergarten,and even though we're totally grown up now, she still thinks of us as kids. It was fine when we were five and she told us to call her Ms. McCuddles and hugged us when we fell during recess, but now we're almost embarrassed when we see her in the hall.
I try to analyze our new situation. "Option one--Ms. McCoddle is easy on us since she's used to dealing with little kids, and we won't have to plug in our brains all year."
Matt offers a different opinion. "Option two--she tries to make up for being a kindergarten teacher by being super hard on us."
"The one year we're supposed to get a guy teacher--figures something would happen to mess it up."
Our worst fears are realized when Ms. McCoddle walks by. "Derek! Matt! Did you hear the good news?"
We look down at our sneakers and nod.
"I'm setting up the mats and juice boxes now. Want to help?"
Matt and I stare at her like she's just asked us to run over the principal with our skateboards.
Ms. McCoddle laughs so hard, she snorts. "I'm kidding! We're starting right in on the Civil War. Get ready for some fierce discussion."
We watch her walk down the hall with a feeling of dread.
"Option two is officially in effect," Matt says.
I barely hear him because I'm halfway down the hall, looking for the janitor, hoping he'll agree to knock me on the head with a mallet to put me out of my misery.
Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Henry Holt and Company, LLC. Text copyright © 2011 by Janet Tashjian Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Jake Tashjian

Editorial Reviews

“A fast-moving plot and relatable protagonist make this stand-alone sequel a good choice for boys who, like Derek, would rather reach for a TV remote or game controller than a book.” —School Library Journal

“Fans of the first will be utterly delighted by this sequel and anxious to see what Jake will turn up as next.” —BCCB

“This is a great package for kids, especially those like Derek who don't think they like to read.” —Booklist

“Another fun, emotionally resonant read for the Wimpy Kid set and beyond.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Will thrill young readers.” —Children's Literature

From the Publisher

Gr 4–7—Twelve-year-old Derek Fallon, from My Life as a Book (Holt, 2010), returns to face another school year and the dreaded task of reading. However, there are some bright spots in his days, including Frank, his capuchin monkey; his best friend, Matt; and the sport of parkour, which uses climbing, jumping, and running to get around obstacles. The boys' friendship is tested when Derek's parkour skills attract the interest of a Hollywood stuntman. Derek is ecstatic when he gets hired to be a "stuntboy," but shocked when he discovers that he's the double for a popular teen actress-and a pretty one, too. After his monkey is stolen, he needs all his friends and parkour skills to help with the rescue. Likely intended for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Abrams, 2007) crowd, this book won't disappoint Greg Heffley's fans, even if Tashjian's humor is milder than Kinney's sharp wit. The details about parkour and a behind-the-scenes peek at filmmaking add interesting information. Stick-figure illustrations cleverly show Derek's practice of drawing his vocabulary words, e.g., the sketch for "analyze" has a stick figure boy scratching his head while staring at a blackboard. They add depth when depicting words readers may find unfamiliar, such as "heinous" and "reverie." However, a great number of them ("gymnasium," "nerdy") need no explanation and are simply humorous. A fast-moving plot and relatable protagonist make this stand-alone sequel a good choice for boys who, like Derek, would rather reach for a TV remote or game controller than a book.—M. Kozikowski, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY

School Library Journal

In this satisfying stand-alone companion toMy Life as a Book(2010), 12-year-old Derek Fallon thinks landing a job as stuntboy for megastar Tanya Billings must be as good as it gets.

After all, the infamously reluctant reader had finally found his niche! The plot, however, thickens: "This morning I was on a movie set doing stunts, talking to a movie star. By the end of the day, my best friend's making fun of me, I have a homework tutor, and my mother's going to cut open my adopted monkey to retrieve my horse. How do these things happen?" As Derek's well-meaning parents tirelessly engage in what sound like rehearsed "teacher moments," their son realistically vacillates between self-doubt and boyish bravado—all in a dry, funny first-person voice. Derek's Yoda-like parkour/stunt coach Tony also has many life lessons for the stuntboy, such as "Parkour is about making your way around obstacles." The family's foster capuchin monkey Frank provides a hairy subplot, as does Derek's nagging worry about losing his best friend Matt, suddenly jealous about Derek's newfound fame. The generous margins are filled with Derek's often quite clever stick-figure cartoons illustrating vocabulary words such as "flabbergasted" and "camouflage"—all rendered by the author's teenage son.

Another fun, emotionally resonant read for the Wimpy Kid set and beyond.(Fiction. 9-14)

Kirkus Reviews