Product Description

Jonah is lonely, overweight, and the new boy in school. To escape the taunts of his classmates, he reinvents himself as a talk show host and turns his fantasy into reality by getting real celebrities to talk to him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1766897 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .52" h x 5.34" w x 7.64" l, .19 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

From Publishers Weekly
An overweight 11-year-old decides to reinvent himself as a TV talk-show host with a gimmicky whale set. PW commended "Shreve's strong characters, convincing dialogue and soothing dose of fantasy fulfillment." Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6?Jonah Morrison is an oversized 11 year old with a big imagination and a facility for fabricating outrageous lies. He moves from New York City to a suburb of New Haven, CT, with his mother and little brother when she and her boyfriend, Thomas Hale, the only father Jonah has ever known, break up. The boy thinks the emptiness he feels for Thomas is hunger and eats constantly, causing his sixth-grade classmates to nickname him "Jonah, the Whale." Thomas had always believed in Jonah and thought that his imagination was a good thing. Missing Thomas and hoping to bring him back, Jonah decides to take the man's advice about turning adversity into success and attempts to launch a talk show for kids, with the set showing a huge figure of a whale and Jonah inside. This story is highly improbable, as Jonah actually gets a telephone interview with Michael Jordan and becomes a famous TV anchorperson, causing Thomas to return to the family, just as Jonah has planned. What the novel lacks in probability, however, it makes up for in humor, appealing characters, and warmth. This feel-good story of optimism and success leaves readers with a sense of empowerment.?Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 4^-6. Eleven-year-old Jonah's imagination is as outsized as his body. After his "almost" father abandons him and his family, they move from New York to New Haven, where his new classmates quickly dub him "Jonah the Whale." Befriended by another outsider, a purple-nail-polish-wearing girl named Blister, Jonah turns to lies as a survival strategy, inventing a TV show starring . . . himself! "I'm probably one of the youngest people on television," he coolly announces. Despite his propensity for stretching the truth, Jonah is an appealing hero with believable motivations, a loving but beleaguered mother, and a refreshingly sassy friend in Blister. Readers will be pleased with an ending that cleverly combines wish fulfillment and reality. Michael Cart