I can understand how Jamie might see being bullied as “progress,” how it would make him “feel normal” and why “normal feels absolutely amazing.” It’s an overly simplistic portrayal of bullying, but it’s not necessarily unbelievable. This section made me pause, but I do remember wanting to be treated the same as my peers the difficulty in determining what was genuine and what was pity the skin-tingling strangeness of being Other. Stevie Kosgrov punched me just like I was a regular, normal kid. … Lying on the ground, staring up at the sky with parking-lot gravel in my hair, I feel that I have finally arrived. I mean, he socks me so hard I end up flat on my back like a tipped-over turtle (minus the kicking legs). Jamie distracts him by telling jokes, and Stevie turns his attention to Jamie. When we first meet Stevie, he’s holding one of Jamie’s classmates upside down, shaking money out of the kid’s pockets.

It’s not an easy task, given his neglectful adoptive parents and outright abusive cousin-turned-stepbrother Stevie.

He now lives with his aunt’s family, and much of the book revolves around his adjustment to his new home. There’s a lot to cover here, so I’m going to split the review into sections.īefore moving to Long Island, Jamie was in an accident that orphaned and paralyzed him. That’s not necessarily a bad goal to have, but the messages it sends are anything but good some are merely misguided, but others are downright dangerous. It also very much wants to be a Disability Book with Good Messages. It could have been a fun, lighthearted book about a wheelchair-using protagonist, where many hijinks ensue and he ultimately wins the day. I was really hoping to like I Funny, which follows Jamie Grimm in his quest to be crowned The Planet’s Funniest Kid Comic.

I Funny by James Patterson