Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    My Life as a Stuntboy
    My Life as a Stuntboy
    My Life as a Stuntboy
    Ebook213 pages2 hours

    My Life as a Stuntboy

    By Janet Tashjian and Jake Tashjian

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateOct 11, 2011
    ISBN9781466822900
    Author

    Janet Tashjian

    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.

    Related authors

    Related to My Life as a Stuntboy

    Titles in the series (11)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Children's School & Education For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Among Us and Roblox in Minecraft

      Mar 25, 2021

      Among Us and Roblox in Minecraft
      3 min read

    • Article

      Then Again, Maybe I Will: The Reads I Kept Hidden in My Youth

      Sep 25, 2018

      1. I found the paperback on a metal card table at my neighbor’s garage sale: Judy Blume’s Then Again, Maybe I Won’t. I was 8 years old and already loved the author for books like Blubber, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and Superfudge. The well-worn

      4 min read

    • Article

      Big Nate Stars

      Mar 13, 2022

      Big Nate Stars
      3 min read

    • Article

      Sonic Domination

      Sep 12, 2021

      Sonic Colours: Ultimate is an out of this world amusement park, that has been deliberately built to slow down Sonic’s speedy ways. However, do you really think there’s any chance of that actually happening? Naaah! Whisk around rescuing Wisps in Sonic

      2 min read

    • Article

      Ask Us Anything

      Sep 9, 2021

      Ask Us Anything
      6 min read

    • Article

      Halloween ideas

      Oct 7, 2021

      Halloween ideas
      3 min read

    • Article

      Sonic Maze-ia Plus

      May 9, 2021

      Sonic Maze-ia Plus
      1 min read

    • Article

      Minecraft

      Jul 23, 2020

      Minecraft
      3 min read

    • Article

      Ask Us anything

      Oct 7, 2021

      Ask Us anything
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Goosy Goose Game

      May 8, 2020

      A Goosy Goose Game
      1 min read

    • Article

      Can You Build This?

      Feb 23, 2023

      Can You Build This?
      2 min read

    • Article

      Ask Us Anything

      Aug 13, 2020

      Ask Us Anything
      5 min read

    • Article

      Q & A

      Nov 1, 2021

      Q & A
      2 min read

    • Article

      Muse Mail

      Jan 1, 2023

      Muse Mail
      5 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Best Way to Cook?

      Nov 4, 2021

      What Is The Best Way to Cook?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Minecraft

      Aug 11, 2020

      RELEASED 23/07/20 PUBLISHER In-house DEVELOPER Mojang LINK minecraft.net The Nether has always been a part of Minecraft from the very beginning, with it’s lava-filled caverns and vicious mobs gobbling up any brave souls who venture in. The recent 1.1

      3 min read

    • Article

      Minecraft

      Jul 16, 2019

      Minecraft
      2 min read

    • Article

      Top 10 Crazy City Builds

      Aug 13, 2020

      Top 10 Crazy City Builds
      3 min read

    • Article

      Winners Take All!

      Mar 7, 2024

      Congratulations to everyone who entered the Writing Magazine Children’s Book Prize 2023! There were 61 entries in the chapter book prize category and it was very tricky whittling them down. However, we are delighted to share our top three winning ent

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Problem with My Dachshund

      Dec 11, 2019

      The Problem with My Dachshund
      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for My Life as a Stuntboy

    3.5/5

    17 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This book was amazing and has so many surprises everywhere! My son loves this book he'll read it instead of playing video games, that's pretty rare for him. Overall it was absolutely awesome and the author did a great job on this book.
    • 3/5
      Derek does not like to read but makes it easier on himself to make drawings of the more difficult words and that is how this book is illustrated. He would rather play with his adopted monkey than clean his diaper but when he is offered to do some stunts in a movie, he is willing to sign a contract to do all those things and more. Will he loose his best friend Matt because of the movie business?

    Book preview

    My Life as a Stuntboy - Janet Tashjian

    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.

    Surgeon

    e9781466822900_i0005.jpg

    bruised

    e9781466822900_i0006.jpg

    I feel almost bruised being back at school, and I haven’t even made it to 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.

    reverie

    e9781466822900_i0007.jpg

    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 reverie by 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.

    contestant

    e9781466822900_i0008.jpg

    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.

    analyze

    e9781466822900_i0009.jpg

    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.

    fierce

    e9781466822900_i0010.jpg

    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.

    Woe is Me

    hover

    e9781466822900_i0011.jpg

    Carly and Maria are climbing out of their skins with joy. They had Ms. McCoddle back in kindergarten too and now hover around her desk like seagulls down at the pier looking for leftover food to grab.

    The decorations in Mr. Maroni’s classroom only make me miss him more. Photos of astronauts, bridges, gorillas, and fighting soldiers remind me how Matt and I were foiled by the school gods who insist on our continued suffering. I try to comfort myself by sneaking a peek at the Calvin and Hobbes book hidden in my desk, but even my favorite fictional friends can’t jolt me out of my sadness today.

    fictional

    e9781466822900_i0012.jpg

    Ms. McCoddle tells the class she’s wanted to move up to our grade for several years and Mr. Maroni’s leave of absence will give her a chance to fulfill her dreams. I have dreams too—but mine consist of staring out the window and thinking about escaping. When I look over at Matt, he seems to be doing the same thing.

    absence

    e9781466822900_i0013.jpg

    Ms. McCoddle spends the first half hour talking about how she’ll run the class, then sends us to the media center to choose a book for our free-reading time. As I head out the door, she pulls me aside.

    Ms. Williams told me how you used to illustrate your vocabulary words—are you still doing that?

    approval

    e9781466822900_i0014.jpg

    I tell her that Ms. Williams, the reading specialist, and my mother both forced me into it, but now it’s a habit I almost enjoy. When I show Ms. McCoddle some of the illustrations I did this week, she thankfully does not get all cuddly but just nods her approval.

    Joe, who has been torturing me since first grade, waits for me in the hall.

    Trying to get in good with the new teacher by showing her your stupid little stick figures?

    I want to tell Joe he might take some diet tips from my stick figures, but I don’t feel like getting thrown into the school trophy cabinet.

    Anime—now those are real drawings. He shoves the book he’s just taken out of the library into my face.

    I realize I’m taking my life in my hands by correcting Joe, but I feel I have to. Actually, anime is when the drawing moves, I explain, like a cartoon or movie. You know, like ‘animate.’ It’s called manga when it’s a book. You should ask Matt—he’s an expert.

    manga

    e9781466822900_i0015.jpg

    Joe looks like someone has just dropped a baby grand piano on top of his crew-cut head. He searches his cobwebbed mind for words but comes up short; if the guy hadn’t been humiliating me for years, I’d almost feel bad for him.

    humiliating

    e9781466822900_i0016.jpg

    Since when did you get so smart? Joe asks. I liked you better when you were a moron.

    I want to tell him that I’m not smart, that my grades are usually horrible, and every bit of homework is a struggle. But I’m too busy trying to digest the words I liked you better when. …I thought Joe was my mortal enemy, and now he’s telling me he’s liked me all this time? What’s the next surprise—one of the lunch ladies wants to meet me after school to climb trees?

    implodes

    e9781466822900_i0017.jpg

    Matt has checked out lots of manga books; when I look through the stack, I realize he’s read all of them before. My mind implodes with the thought that someone would actually read a book from school more than once. I shake my head in amazement and wander to the next aisle.

    I know most kids enjoy browsing through books in the media center, but it’s always been one of my least favorite parts of school. Other students might glance through these shelves and be thrilled by all the different stories and characters; for me the spines of the books just stare back like a line of gangsters with machine guns loaded with ammunition. You think you can read us, tough guy? Go ahead and try—we’ll crush

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1