The Jake show

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The Jake show

Title :

The Jake show / Joshua S. Levy.

Title:

The Jake show

Author:

Levy, Joshua (Joshua S.)

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

235 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

ISBN:

9780063248199

Production / Publication Information:

New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2023]

Summary:

"For TV-obsessed Jake Lightman, his parents' divorce is like his favorite show getting canceled: The worst. Now he's stuck between playing the role of 'Yaakov' for his mother and 'Jacob' for his father. On Jake's first day at a new school, Caleb and Tehilla barrel into his life. Suddenly, he has two friends who seem to like the real Jake. And when they invite him to Camp Gershoni for the summer, Jake knows he has to go--even if his parents won't let him. With help from Caleb and Tehilla, Jake concocts a web of lies to get to camp. But he struggles to keep up the ruse--and be a good friend at the same time. As the cost of lying grows, he must decide what's truly important, or risk losing the people he cares about the most."--

Language:

English

Genre:

Psychological fiction.

Humorous fiction.

Subject Term:

Children of divorced parents -- Juvenile fiction.

Camps -- Juvenile fiction.

Friendship -- Juvenile fiction.

Jews -- Juvenile fiction.

Secrecy -- Juvenile fiction.

Children of divorced parents -- Fiction.

Camps -- Fiction.

Friendship -- Fiction.

Jews -- Fiction.

JUVENILE FICTION / Family / Marriage & Divorce.

JUVENILE FICTION / Social Themes / Friendship.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Amesbury Public Library	J FIC LEVY	32114002804129	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library Children's Room	J LEVY	31330009464383	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	J LEVY	32116004047144	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groveland - Langley-Adams Library	J FIC LEVY	32121000908950	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newburyport Public Library	J LEVY	32128004197027	Searching... Unknown

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On Order

Summary

In Joshua S. Levy's hilarious and charming middle grade novel, a Jewish seventh grade boy is caught between the worlds of his divorced parents--with an orthodox mother and secular father, Jake must concoct a web of lies to go to a summer camp with his friends. Perfect for fans of Gordon Korman and Erin Entrada Kelly. A Sydney Taylor Honor Book!

For TV-obsessed Jake Lightman, his parents' divorce is like his favorite show getting canceled: The worst. Now he's stuck between playing the role of "Yaakov" for his mother and "Jacob" for his father.

On Jake's first day at a new school, Caleb and Tehilla barrel into his life. Suddenly, he has two friends who seem to like the real Jake. And when they invite him to Camp Gershoni for the summer, Jake knows he has to go--even if his parents won't let him.

With help from Caleb and Tehilla, Jake concocts a web of lies to get to camp. But he struggles to keep up the ruse--and be a good friend at the same time. As the cost of lying grows, he must decide what's truly important or risk losing the people he cares about the most.

Reviews (2)

Kirkus Review

An Orthodox Jewish seventh grader who has watched way too much television negotiates new schools and divorced parents. Readers who are familiar with television-land tropes will enjoy this knowingly comic novel, in which an extremely self-conscious Jewish boy processes his experiences as if they were elements of a long-running TV show. At school, he's Forgettable Kid #5, who goes by Jake if asked. But at his mother's house--post-divorce, she's married a rabbi and become extremely Orthodox--he's quiet Yaakov, who wears a black suit and fedora. His father's remarried to a non-Jew and is now fully secular; there, he's lively, goofy Jacob in jeans and T-shirts. His parents have been using the courts to yank him between schools representing various denominations of Judaism, moving him so frequently he can't make friends. But two kids at his latest stop--Broward County Jewish Day School--just won't let him slip into the background. Caleb, who's gone through a lot to come out as gay, and Tehilla, whose mother's low-paying jobs don't always cover the basics, help Jake devise a madcap scheme to join their beloved Jewish summer camp, one too secular for his mother and too religious for his father. The web of lies, the fake camp websites, a wild caper scene at the airport--have they pulled off "the greatest sleepover switcheroo in history"? All characters are presumed White. Astutely depicts the pain of a contentious divorce, the balm of friendship, and the complexity of Jewish culture. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Torn between polarized parents after a messy divorce, 12-year-old, TV-loving Jake Lightman pleases everyone but himself by adopting different personas for each parent: devout Yaakov when with his mother and secular Jacob with his dad. Jacob sticks to the script of doting son, supposing it is "better to be a few different people that everybody loves than one person everybody hates." At Jake's latest school (his seventh, postdivorce), new friends Caleb and Tehilla convince Jake he can be himself at their beloved Camp Gershoni, with its summertime cabal of girls named Shira and secret handshake. There, the trio stages an elaborate camp bluff that mires Jake in deeper drama before a reckoning that tidily resolves all relationships. Levy (Seventh Grade vs. the Galaxy, 2019) veers from sf in this contemporary-fiction story where positive stepparenting steals the show. Lessons are learned about the risks of compromising for peace and about the importance of bravery even when scared. This comical, authentic, and firmly Jewish caper should play to rave reviews with both secular and spiritual audiences.