The Barftastic Life of Louie Burger by Jenny Meyerhoff (review)

Fifth-grader Louie Burger would like nothing more than make audiences laugh like his comic idol, Lou Lafferman, but Louie's severe stage fright limits his performance venues to his empty closet. As his school's annual talent show approaches, however, Louie considers doing his act for the first time in public, urged on by his supportive father and perhaps with the ultimate goal of finally showing up the class bully. Unfortunately, Louie's hopes to partner up for his act with his best pal Nick are dashed when Nick seems to be too busy with Thermos, a sports-loving girl he met at summer camp. This is mostly a retread of already well-worn middle-grade territory, with Meyerhoff 's take on the wayward best friend and the manipulative bully lacking the candid authenticity of Hasak-Lowy's 33 Minutes (BCCB 2/13). Even the stand-up routine is well-worn; as the title suggests at, many of Louie's jokes are barf-themed, and the humor is largely stale and predictable. Louie is a likable guy, though, and his observations about his family and school while offstage are pretty spot-on, particularly when it comes to the parallels between what he sees as his failure to become a comedian and his dad's unsuccessful attempts to become an artist. His unicorn-obsessed little sister is also quite a hoot, so there's a fair amount for readers to giggle at regardless of their taste. Week's monochromatic art adds to the humor with its cast of appealingly goofy big-headed folks.