I Totally Funniest

James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein's I Totally Funniest is a comedy for 9 year olds about a boy comic who gets very famous, very quickly, and doesn't handle it brilliantly.

What happens

Jamie Grimm is down to the last eight in the Planet's Funniest Kid Comic Contest. The finals in Hollywood are three days away (and Jamie isn't going to let you forget the countdown).

At school he's suddenly a star. Girls scream at him in the corridor. Even his old rival Vincent O'Neil is offering him jokes. And Stevie Kosgrov, Jamie's bully of a cousin, makes himself Jamie's bodyguard, mostly to protect Jamie from Stevie.

Then the finals are postponed, and they come back much bigger. Now they'll be on a major TV network, with a million dollars and a sitcom for the winner.

A camera crew starts following Jamie everywhere, even to the bathroom door. Their producer wants him to play up his wheelchair and make America cry. Jamie has never wanted to win that way, and he says so.

There's a slot on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon too, with Taylor Swift and Daniel Radcliffe as the other guests. It's a super fun stretch.

But the real story is what fame does to him. Jamie's too busy for Gilda, Gaynor and Pierce. He keeps putting them off, then snaps at them, and they walk away.

Have you ever watched a child get so wrapped up in one big thing that they forget everyone else? Jamie half knows he's being a jerk (he even says so). That's what makes him so easy to root for.

The early chapters are short and there's a joke in nearly every line, so it races along. Lots of the gags lean on American TV and comedians, and some will sail over a British child's head. There's always another one along in a second.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Stevie still calls Jamie "Crip", and the TV producer uses the word "crippled" when he's pushing for tears. Both are slurs aimed at disabled people. The book shows them up for exactly what they are, but your reader might have questions. There's quite a bit of who-likes-who chat as well.

This is the third I Funny book and it starts right where the last one left off, so I Funny is the place to begin.

What to read next

If it's the stand-up dream that hooks them, The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh is a gentler, very different take on it. Billy Plimpton has a head full of jokes and a stammer that keeps getting in the way of his punchlines.