Tashjian, Janet. My Life As A Stuntboy.

Tashjian, Janet.  My Life As A Stuntboy.  Henry Holt/Macmillan Children's Publishing Group,     2011. 256p.  $13.99  ISBN 978-0-8050-8904-2 elm/ms

VG-BN Realistic Fiction

     When Derek is invited to participate in a movie as a stunt boy, his life falls apart.  His best friend is jealous, his monkey eats one of his toys and becomes deathly ill, and his classmates ridicule him because he must perform stunts for a girl.  Fun characters, solid plot development, comedic style and interesting conflicts combine to make this book a good choice for the elementary- and middle-school reader.  When Janet Tashjian put together her story, she switched it enough to make it fresh and inviting to fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Whereas Kinney wrote his books in journal form with stick illustrations, Tashjian wrote hers in narrative form with all of the elements of storytelling intact.  She used her husband’s illustrations to support vocabulary acquisition, not to tell the story.  Aside from the stick-figure illustrations, all similarities to "Wimpy Kid" end. 

     The story begins when Derek and his best buddy Matt are caught performing stunts at UCLA.  This incident leads Derek on the adventure of a lifetime, that of stunt boy in an actual movie!  Jealous best friend Matt tapes Derek with his reading tutor, unbeknownst to Derek, and puts it on YouTube.  As a result, Derek is devastated.  He just does not know how to win Matt back!  His new career moves forward when the famous star of the movie befriends him, thus making him a hit at his school.  When his monkey is kidnapped, Derek learns that relationships are much more important than his new job, and he is contrite to the end.  Tashijian has penned an upbeat winner of a book that will keep children reading.                 

Martha Squaresky