The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh

Your reviewer manages a stammer, and was pleased to assess this book. Helen Rutter wrote this story because her own son stammers, and she wanted there to be a book he could identify with, plus jokes, for which she held a national competition, judged by Noel Fielding, for children to send in their favourites. Some are old, and others new, but hailing this book as the funniest debut of 2021, as the cover does, may be a bit premature. A joke is the heading for every chapter, as Billy Plimpton loves jokes, and tries out many on his Granny with whom he is more relaxed, and she has always been his best audience. As the story begins, he is just starting secondary school, and tries to hide his stammer until he has worked out how to get rid of it. One of his own lists, ‘How to stay hidden’, works for a while, but eventually a teacher asks each member of the class to prepare a speech about something important to them, and, although Billy tries everything he can to get out of it, his Mum and speech therapist insist that he does it, and his impediment is revealed, but in a way that makes the class sympathetic to him, except for the class bully, William, whom Billy had identified as trouble from the first day.
Billy tells us about the four ways that adults react to him : the Encouragers, who tell him to relax (which doesn’t help); the Mind-Readers, who finish his sentences for him (often inaccurate, and annoying); the Jokers, who stammer back at him (not funny) and the Waiters, who patiently let him finish what he is saying. He has various possible ‘cures’- his speech therapist has given him various coping mechanisms, all totally recognizable, and he finds others on the internet. Of course, nothing works, not even a ‘relaxing’ herbal tea that he finds disgusting. He is naturally funny: his only former classmate from primary school, Skyla, enjoys his jokes, and he does make some good friends. His Form Teacher, Mr Osho, (of Nigerian origin) is very helpful and supportive indeed, writing 10 important things about Billy in his notebook, and also encouraging him to take up drumming. The end-of-term school talent show is promising – should he be a drummer, and with which band? Or a comedian, which is his dearest wish? Helen Rutter works this out very cleverly, and the various relationships Billy has with the people around him show him to be a resourceful and kind person – he even manages to sort things out with William the bully. Although Skyla’s story is not quite resolved, his family and friends, and the delightful Mr Osho, are all credible characters, and the ending of this enjoyable book is positive.