9781004041275From Goodreads: “Billy loves telling jokes . . . but there’s one thing he feels is standing in his way of being a comic: his stutter. In The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh, debut author Helen Rutter shows how Billy finds his own triumph with lots of laughs along the way. Billy Plimpton has a big dream: to become a famous comedian when he grows up. He already knows a lot of jokes, but thinks he has one big problem standing in his way: his stutter.
At first, Billy thinks the best way to deal with this is to . . . never say a word. That way, the kids in his new school won’t hear him stammer. But soon he finds out this is NOT the best way to deal with things. (For one thing, it’s very hard to tell a joke without getting a word out.)
As Billy makes his way toward the spotlight, a lot of funny things (and some less funny things) happen to him. In the end, the whole school will know — If you think you can hold Billy Plimpton back, be warned: The joke will soon be on you.“

Available from Scribd

 

My Review

This was a such a lovely audiobook and laugh out loud funny!

I spotted this on Scribd recently and was hooked from the beginning. I loved getting to know soon to be 12 years old Billy, his Mum and Dad and his annoying pony obsessed little sister, Chloe. Oh yes, and Granny Bread, who Billy is especially close to.

As the above synopsis mentions Billy dreams of being a stand up comedian, but unfortunately his has a terrible stammer. He desperately wants to get rid of it and makes lists of ways to make it go away.

Billy was such a lovely boy and so funny! My heart broke for him when his plans didn’t go the way he wanted, I wanted to give him a big hug and tell him everything would be okay.

There were some lovely supporting characters, and one particularly horrible one who I wanted to get by the scruff of the neck and give a good talking to, that’s how good the writing was! Fortunately it’s not all sad, as each chapter starts with a joke, which always made me laugh out loud, but then I do like children’s jokes!

I tend to stay away from audiobooks read by authors as the samples I’ve heard haven’t been very good, but Helen Rutter reads her own book superbly! She knew how to make me laugh out loud, worry for Billy and make me want him to succeed no matter what.

The idea for this story was inspired by Helen Rutter’s son, who has a stammer; she wanted to write a book that he would love to read, starring a child like him.

I highly recommend this on audio if you enjoy books about children overcoming adversity.