Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald is the comical story of a boy who makes it his mission not to read books and tries just about everything to make sure he never has to.
Summary
Charlie Joe Jackson is a middle school boy who is determined to do as little reading as possible. This story follows him through the school year as he cooks up wild schemes to get out of reading as much as possible. He goes to great lengths to never read any books.
He advises readers of methods, excuses, and tips about not reading. Along the way, he causes a fair amount of pre-teen angst including girl trouble and misunderstandings between best friends. He shares his observations and theories with readers.
By the end of the school year, his non reading tricks are discovered by his parents and teachers and his punishment is a choice between reading 10 books and reporting on them or writing one book. The result of that choice is this guide.
Impressions
With a definite nod to the Wimpy Kid series, Greenwald has written a funny book that should appeal to non-readers everywhere. With short chapters and pages that feature a mixture of sketches, tips, lists, and narrative, this book is an easy read for even those who have never finished a book before. The straightforward approach to the narrative style gives it the air of a guy talking to his best friend and giving advice. Boys in 5th and 6th grades will especially enjoy it, but girls would get a kick out of it too. This was a fun and fast read that could be a great way to get that first chapter book under the belt of a reluctant reader.
Professional Reviews
Make no mistake, Charlie Joe can and does read: text messages, cereal boxes, videogame instructions, anything that appears online. Just don’t require him to read— gasp!—a book. So total is his aversion to books that he has developed an amazing system of avoidance that has kept his grades up and profile down for years. Now, however, the system is spinning into failure as his erstwhile friend and surrogate reader, who used to do the literary heavy lifting and feed him report-ready details for the modest and reasonable price of an ice-cream sandwich, is shaking him down for more than Charlie Joe can afford to pay. His big sister comes through in a pinch, hauling him through an immediate assignment, but it’s clear this stopgap measure won’t get him through the dreaded Position Paper, which requires multiple print resources and an oral reading before three English teachers, each of whom will ask probing questions. The intricate solution he devises (and which, of course, comically backfires and results in his authorship of this book) is at once ingenious and doomed, carrying with it the obvious message: just get over it and read the darn book. It’s difficult to tell whether Greenwald has created a naïve misfire, intended for reluctant readers who won’t ever come near it, or a stroke of subversive genius, skewering those well-intentioned authors who vainly believe theirs is that one magical novel that will finally entice the most obtuse holdout, but in the end it hardly matters. Kids who do peruse the book will enjoy Charlie Joe’s chuckleworthy tips on keeping reading at bay, even if they take exception to his list of “helpful oxymorons: 1. good book, 2. happy reader, 3. important author, 4. nice library, 5. favorite bookstore.”
Bush, 2011
Charlie Joe will do just about anything to avoid reading in this humorous cautionary tale for book-hating middle-grade students.
Debut author Greenwald takes on the persona of Charlie Joe Jackson, a middle-school boy who hates reading. His avoidance techniques get him into serious trouble with his parents, his teachers and his friends. After a year of avoiding reading—paying off a friend in ice-cream sandwiches to read books for him and manipulating his friends so he won’t have to read for the all-important position-paper project—Charlie Joe is forced to spend his summer vacation writing a book about his poor choices. Charlie Joe’s insider knowledge of the inner machinations of middle-school cliques will make younger readers smile in anticipation, and his direct address to readers makes make him feel like an older buddy showing the way. Sprinkled into the narrative are “Charlie Joe’s Tips” to avoiding reading books, written on faux notebook paper, that serve as a little diversion from the plot. As amusing as this is, Charlie Joe’s voice is not consistent and occasionally jars with the intelligent, smart-guy sarcasm that characterizes most of Charlie Joe’s prose.
Kirkus, 2011
Library Uses
This could be used in the library as part of a book club for boys. They could also be encouraged to write short stories to see if they, like the character, enjoy writing more than reading.
References
Bush, E. (2011). Charlie Joe Jackson’s guide to not reading. Bulletin of the Center for Children's
Books, 64(11).
Charlie Joe Jackson’s guide to not reading (2011) Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tommy-greenwald/charlie-joe-jacksons-
guide-not-reading/
Greenwald, T. (2011). Charlie Joe Jackson's guide to not reading. New York, NY: Roaring Brook
Press.
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