Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading
By Tommy Greenwald
Illustrated by: J. P. Coovert

Submitted by: Brandi Burton, Teen Librarian, Central Branch Library, EBRPL System 
and Angela Germany, Children and Teen Services Consultant State Library 

Title: Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading
Author: Tommy Greenwald
Illustrator: J. P. Coovert
Publisher: Roaring Books Press
Pages: 219

SUMMARY: 
Middle school student Charlie Joe Jackson hates to read and will do anything to avoid it.  Since last year, he’s had a sweet deal with his friend Timmy. Charlie Joe buys Timmy an ice cream sandwich and Timmy tells Charlie Joe what happened in the book.  One day, Timmy refuses to tell Charlie Joe what happened in their most recent required reading.  Instead of simply reading the book, Charlie Joe sets out on a series of misadventures to avoid it.

AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY: 
Tommy Greenwald lives in Connecticut with his wife, Cathy, and his three sons, Charlie, Joe, and Jack.  He wrote Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading because even though he loves to read, his sons do not, so he thought he would try to write a book they would read. His job when he’s not writing hilarious books is to create advertisements for Broadway shows for a company named Spotco. 
http://tommygreenwald.com/ (Biographical information from Tommy Greenwald’s and the McMillan website)

ILLUSTRATOR’S BIOGRAPHY:  
J. P. Coovert has a master’s degree in cartooning and lives with his wife in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he designs t-shirts for a living.  He likes movies, playing video games and playing with his puppies.  
http://jpcoovert.com/ (Biographical information from J. P. Coovert’s website)

OTHER TITLES BY THE AUTHOR:
•	Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Extra Credit 
•	Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Summer Vacation

OTHER TITLES BY THE ILLUSTRATOR: 
•	Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Extra Credit
•	Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Summer Vacation
•	The Last Invisible Boy written by Evan Kuhlman
		
•	Why You Shouldn’t Eat Your Boogers: Gross But True Things You Don’t Want to Know About Your Body written by: Francesca Gould
RELATED TITLES (Students may also enjoy these titles.)
•	Dork Diaries Series by Rachel Renée Russell.  Aladdin Publishers, 2009. 282 p.
•	Schooled by Gordon Korman. Hyperion Books, 2007. 208 p.  2007. VOYA Award Honor book.
•	Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stewart Little by Peggy Gifford. Schwartz and Wade Books, 2007. 91 p. Winner of the Kirkus Editor’s Choice Best Book Award.
•	How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart.  Delacorte Press, 2010. 247 p.

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS:

Language Arts: 
In the story, Charlie Joe is trying to avoid reading while giving tips to kids about how to avoid reading. His best friend Katie loves to read and tries to convince him repeatedly to read.  Have the students write an essay from Katie’s point of view convincing Charlie Joe to read.

The story includes tips, suggestions and strategies to get out of reading. Basically, the book is a how-to manual for getting out of reading a book. Ask your students to write a short “how-to” guide for a topic of their choosing. For example: how to make a sandwich, how to be a good sibling, how to cook a quick meal, etc. Be sure to include black and white sketch drawings throughout your how to guide.  

Draw a Venn Diagram and ask students to compare and contrast the differences between Reading a Book to Not Reading a Book an assigned book. 

Social Studies
In the story, Charlie Joe does a report on cliques in middle schools.  Have the students do a report similar to the one Charlie Joe does, explaining cliques and whether they matter in middle schools.

Math
Have the students do a statistics project about the reading habits of their fellow students and/or their thoughts on cliques.

Art
There are illustrations scattered throughout the book, in a new style sometimes called an illustrated novel. A different traditional method of using pictures to tell a story is a comic book. Here is a fun and easy lesson plan on making your own comic strip http://www.teachchildrenesl.com/filez8932/lesson%20plans/comic_strip.pdf. 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.	Was Charlie Joe’s reluctance to read books selfish?  Why or why not?  Did this hurt anyone?
2.	In the book Charlie’s Tip #4 is: “Girls think it’s kind of cool if you don’ read a lot and still get good grades.” Do you agree with this? Why or why not?
3.	How far would you go to avoid doing something you didn’t like, such as school work or chores? Explain.
4.	Do you think Charlie Joe went too far to get out of reading? Why or why not?
5.	Telling on your friends is generally looked on as being a bad thing.  Do you think Timmy’s telling his parents about his deal with Charlie Joe was good or bad?
6.	Since it was going to incriminate him, too, was Timmy being brave or just mean?  Why?
7.	Because of the way things worked out with Hannah and Jake, do you think Hannah should have given Charlie Joe his record cover back?  Why or why not?
8.	Do you think cliques in schools are a good thing or a bad thing?  Why?
9.	What do you think would have been a better alternative for Charlie Joe as punishment for having Jake read his books for the Position Paper?
10.	There are illustrations scattered throughout the book. Did you like having pictures in the book? Why or Why not?

WEBSITES:

Tommy Greenwald’s Author Site
http://tommygreenwald.com/charlie-joe-jackson/
This website provides information about how Tommy Greenwald came up with the character of Charlie Joe Jackson and the other books about the character.

James Patterson’s readkiddoread.com
http://www.readkiddoread.com/book/534#
This website provides a review by a parent and a review by an educator for Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading, information on where to find the book, and read-alike books.