Life as the class clown mayseem like a laugh a minute,but Bobby's situation is nojoke:His constant misbehavior isaboutto send him to the Schoolfor Intervention-two steps fromreformschool.

Bobby's older brother went there. That is, before he got kicked out of school altogether and then kicked out of the house. Their father calls it tough love, but to Bobby it seems more like tough luck. And he knows he could be next.

Bobby's got one last chance to prove to his teachers, his parents, and himself that comedy is no joke. His assignment: to put on a school-wide laugh-off. It'll be a stand-up standoff between the teachers and the students-and may the best comic win.

But being the King of Comedy isn't Bobby's only goal. The Great Laugh-Off is also his chance to teach his sarcastic father an important lesson: that jokes can have the power to hurt-and also to heal.

2000-2001 Georgia's Picture Storybook Award & Georgia's Children's Book Award Masterlist