Funny Kid #2: Stand Up

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Author(s)

Matt Stanton

Genre(s)

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Release Date

June 19, 2018

ISBN

978-0062572943

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Max may not be the strongest, or the smartest, or the handsomest kid in his class—but he may well be the funniest! Except when Max’s classroom joke lands flat, he suddenly becomes the Un-Funny Kid!

The only way to make everyone forget Max’s comedy catastrophe is for him to win the town talent quest with his very own stand-up comedy routine. Max is ready to bring comedy gold to his audition, but thanks to a heckling clown, Max can’t even remember his first joke!

With the help of his best friend Hugo and their feathered pet, Duck, Max thinks he has everything he needs to come up the greatest stand-up comedy routine of all time—but will it be enough? Max will need all the advice he can get to prove that he is the kid who can make everyone laugh!

Matt Stanton brings his veteran children’s book chops to this hilarious series, perfect for early middle grade readers looking for side-splitting laughs!

Editor reviews

2 reviews

Knock Knock

July 11, 2018 (Updated: June 30, 2026)

Overall rating

4.5

Plot

4.0

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

After his attempts to run for class president in Funny Kid for President, Max has decided that his identity is firmly tied to being the "funny kid". When his arch enemy, Abby Purcell, not only calls him "unfunny kid" but gets a laugh when his own joke did NOT, he is beside himself and feels that amends have to be made. He tries out for the Redhill Talent Quest, only to find that another participant, Tumbles the Clown, is attempting to be funny at the expense of Max. Tumbles heckles Max mercilessly and throws him off his game, but when Max tries to heckle Tumbles, he is admonished for it! Clearly, this isn't fair, and when Max's grandfather disappears from the local nursing home, Max uses this as an excuse to drop out. There is a note from kidnappers, which is highly suspect, but Officer Purcell is still brought in to help, and brings her daughter... ABBY! Max is not happy at all, and gets involved with the search, but also decides to continue to participate. Eventually, a secret emerges involving Tumbles and Max's grandfather. Can Max solve the mystery in time to amuse the audience at the Talent Quest?

Good Points

This notebook novel is a good mix of illustrations and text, and has plenty of throwaway jokes, such as a backstory of Max trying to make people laugh that includes an account of his birth, complete with his bare baby bum! This is far more amusing than Patterson's I, Funny, especially since it is very clear that Max's grandfather isn't in any real danger. I do like the depiction of "Cranky Pants"-- "Mom says he thinks Planet Earth is his house and everyone else popped in without asking"! (page 18)

It's interesting that Max's downfall is due in part to the fact that all of the students in his class really like their new, young teacher, Miss Sweet. They don't appreciate Max playing jokes on her, and since that is a huge source of his humor, it has a bad effect on his popularity. Also interesting is watching him freeze and be unable to come up with good jokes when him rhythm is thrown off. Losing one's "mojo" happens all too frequently, and it's important for young readers to see this happen to some of their favorite characters.

Like other notebook novels like Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go to School, How to Be a Supervillain, Remy Sneakers, and King of the Bench Funny Kid includes plenty of poop and fart jokes, visual gags, and silly situations that will make readers laugh out loud. Get a copy of this for long summer car trips along with Marty Pants and some Big Nate comic books to insure that instead of hearing "Are we there yet?" you'll be hearing bad jokes!