It’s not easy being Claire. (Really.) Claire’s life is a joke…but she’s not laughing. While her friends seem to be leaping forward, she’s dancing in the same place. The mean girls at school are living up to their mean name, and there’s a boy, Ryder, who’s just as bad, if not worse. And at home, nobody’s really listening to her—if anything, they seem to be more in on the joke than she is. Then into all of this (not-very-funny-to-Claire) comedy comes something intense and tragic—while her dad is talking to her at the kitchen table, he falls over with a medical emergency. Suddenly the joke has become very serious—and the only way Claire, her family, and her friends are going to get through it is if they can find a way to make it funny again.
Author
I am the author of seven books for children and young adults, including Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie. So if youʼre looking for info about some other guy named Jordan Sonnenblick, youʼve got the wrong website. Anyway, I know a lot of people are looking for stuff they can use in reports for school, so Iʼll just get this out of the way right up front: My favorite color is blue. I have a wife and two kids. The best pet I ever had was a garter snake I caught when I was eight by a lake in Pennsylvania. I named the snake Hector. Then it gave birth to 20 baby snakes, so I changed its name to Hectoria. My all-time favorite band is the Beatles, although I like a ton of different music. My hobbies are playing the drums, guitar, and bass; riding my bicycle at least 50 miles a week; hanging out with my wife and kids; and reading. Speaking of reading, I read a lot of different genres. As a kid, though, I mostly read fantasy, science fiction, and comic books. When I was in fourth grade, a fantasy novel called The Dark is Rising inspired me to become a novelist someday. My favorite baseball team is the New York Yankees. When I was a kid, my best friend and I used to go to Yankees games and throw open ketchup packets off the upper deck. Donʼt try that at home, kids!
