The Boy Behind the Punchlines

About This Book

If laughter were medicine, Jonah Rivera could cure his whole school. His principal impression brings the cafeteria down; his puns fill every silence before anyone can ask why he eats microwaved leftovers alone most nights. So when Cresthill announces a storytelling assembly, Jonah's hand shoots up: a comedy set, jokes only, nothing real. Then a line he tries out at rehearsal lands on a quiet classmate instead of on a laugh, and for the first time the room's laughter sounds cold. His teacher asks him to sit in a circle and talk about it, and his notebook starts growing a second column — one for truths. A funny, aching story about humor as armor.