Today we welcome Jake Gerhardt to YABC! Jake’s book, Me and Miranda Mullaly, is filled with humour and all the amazing awkwardness that comes from a middle school crush! Read on to learn a few things about Jake, his book, the top five books/writers that inspired him to write a humourous book, plus a giveaway!
But first, meet Jake Gerhardt!
Jake Gerhardt was born and raised in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. He attended Elkins Park Middle School, where he played football and basketball, ran track, performed in the school musical, and was a member of the student council. He also found time to attend many school dances, in constant pursuit of various Miranda Mullalys.
Since graduating from West Chester University, he has worked as a teacher. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his pulchritudinous wife and two amazing daughters. Me and Miranda Mullaly is his first book.
Now meet Jake’s book: Me and Miranda Mullaly.
Meet Sam, the comedian; Duke, the intellectual; and Chollie, the athlete. Their fates converge at Penn Valley Middle as each falls desperately for the enigmatic Miranda Mullaly—the girl who smiles like she means it, the girl who makes Christmas truly magic when she sings, the girl who…barely realizes her admirers exist!
Small misunderstandings lead to big laughs, and alternating perspectives fuel this exciting, swiftly-paced story. And beneath the humor, every attempt to win Miranda’s favor becomes a compelling look at the larger world of each guy’s life. Me and Miranda Mullaly is perfect for fans of Flipped and The Swap.
Sounds great, right?! With introductions in order, it’s time for the top five books/writers that inspired Jake Gerhardt.
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Top five books/writers that inspired me to write a funny/humorous book:
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1.) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
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Ignatius J. Reilly, in the words of the novelist Walker Percy, is an “intellectual, ideologue, deadebeat, goof‐off, glutton” who is on a “one‐man war again everybody.” I might add Ignatius is also a mess. Oh, but what a fine mess.
Ignatius is a man at home in the seventeenth century who unfortunately must endure the twentieth century. When his mother crashes their Plymouth (Ignatius refuses to drive or sit in the front seat) after a few too many at the Night of Joy, a seedy bar, Ignatius must get a job in order to help pay off the damages. Ignatius will stay the same, happily trapped in medieval times, but New Orleans will never be the same after his adventures.
When I first read this book I carried around my copy and read passages aloud to friends, desperate to share John Kennedy Toole’s masterpiece. Just in case I didn’t have the book on me, I committed to memory a letter he wrote to his professor, in which he called out the professor, “you deluded fool, you ‘anyone for tennis?’ golf‐playing, cocktail‐quaffing pseudo pendant…” Read it aloud to yourself, the words are wonderful and the professor’s reaction perfect.
Each addition of this novel has an introduction a very sad essay by Walker Percy and one can only read the novel and be saddened by John Kennedy Toole’s death at thirty‐two by suicide. But what a gift, what a treasure, what a marvel he bequeathed us.
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2.) The Thurber Carnival by James Thurber
Each piece in this collection is ingenious, outrageous and immensely fun to read. His wacky family life, chronicled in My Life and Hard Times, includes a colorful cast of characters, including the dog that bit people, Muggs. “A big, burly, choleric dog, he always acted if is he though I wasn’t one of the family.” This is quite a misfortune for young James, for Muggs bit everyone who wasn’t a family member. The family “took turns feeding Muggs to be on his good side, but that didn’t always work.” I can’t help but smile reading about this family tolerating Muggs (he caught mice and bit a congressman whom Mrs. Thurber was not fond) and tip‐toeing around the house in fear of the brute. As an extra bonus Thurber, who was a limited but brilliant illustrated, depicted Muggs with somewhat human characteristics. “Nobody knew exactly what was the matter with him” is written under Muggs’s portrait, in which he seems to be extricating wax from his ear.
Also in this volume are some of Thurber’s master works. “The Greatest Man in the World” sums up celebrity in America perfectly. “The Strange Case of Mr. Bruhl” is one of the funniest, clever and original stories ever written. “The Curb in the Sky” takes the idiosyncrasies of marriage to another level.
3.) The Secret Life of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3⁄4 by Sue Townsend
Adrian Mole is one of the great comic characters in literature. Like many heroes of humorous novls, he has an extremely high view of himself, writing poems to be read on the BBC and dreaming of the days when he’ll be a famous and wealthy poet. He’s also quite the painter. After painting his room with layers and layers of black paint he finally looks at his masterpiece and writes he now knows “how Rembrandt must have felt after painting the Sistine Chapel in Venice.”
Hilarity ensues when he has to have his tonsils taken out. Ever the hysterical hypochondriac (it’s obvious the doctor loathes him) his Grandma rings up to reassure him, telling poor Adrian “she knew somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody how had their tonsils out and bled to death on the operating theater table.” Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be fine she tells him. Adrian’s father waits around the hospital, asking over and over when he get leave (no doubt to wet his whistle at nearby pub) and when it’s all over the nurse offers to pay a taxi to get Adrian out of her hair.
The trip to British museum is one of the funniest retellings of a field trip you’ll ever read.
4.) The Wooster and Jeeves Stories by P.G. Wodehouse
You’re in good hands with Wodehouse, all time favorite writer of many. Few writers can be esteemed by Salman Rushdie (who loves the take down of fascism in The Code of the Woosters) to the Chief Justice of the United States.
Bertie is always in trouble. He loves the single life, yet often is on the verge of an engagement to marriage. Here are Bertie’s thoughts on one of his possible brides, Florence Craye: “Florence is like a volcano; you can go around thining it’s been extinct for centuries, and suddenly you’re covered in red‐hot lava.” Hardly sound is if Bertie is in love.
If he isn’t in “the soup” himself, he is often trying to extricate one of his Oxford buddies from a jam. His pals, Bingo Little and Tuppy Glossop and other are just as incapable of staying clear of trouble as is Bertie.
Fortunately for Bertie and his associate, there is Jeeves. By the end of each tale Jeeves has saved the day and a contemplative Bertie Wooster thinks (wrongly) he has learned something. “Right ho! Then bring me my whangee, my yellowest shoes, and the old green Homburg. I’m going to the park to do pastoral dances.” That’s how I feel when reading these stories.
5.) Rumpole John Mortimer
Horace Rumpole, a rotund barrister who spends his days battling for justice in the Old Bailey, is one of the world’s great literary curmudgeons. These stories, often about thirty pages in length, depict Rumpole and his wonderful mix of characters; his brain‐dead fellow lawyers, corrupt police, indifferent judges and his wife, Hilda, known as “She Who Must Be Obeyed.” To keep him busy, Rumpole has a delightful family of incompetent criminals, the Timsons, who keep him gainfully employed.
The dialogue in these stories are perhaps the best, most facetious and wittiest that you can find. Whether he’s enjoying a glass of wine (Chateau Thames Embankment) at the pub, battling the police and judges in the Old Bailey or sitting by the electric fire at his flat, Rumpole is always in the midst of some of the wittiest exchanges you will find in literature.
We’d like to thank Jake Gerhardt for sharing ALL about the books and writers who’ve inspired him! And here is another BIG thank you for the following giveaway of Me and Miranda Mullaly!
Me and Miranda Mullay
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By: Jake Gerhardt
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Release Date: January 26, 2016
*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*
Five winners will receive a hardcover copy of Me and Miranda Mullaly. US addresses only.
Entering is simple, just fill out the entry form below.
*Click the Rafflecopter link to enter the giveaway*
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