elated
And paddle he does—furiously, with all the power of that octopus he drew in his comic strip. Heinz pops up and steers the board with his body, leaning left, carving his way expertly across the wave. We all hear an elated Umberto yell like Tarzan as he rides in.
Matt, Eduardo, and I run into the water to greet Umberto as Heinz hops off the board. Umberto’s mom follows behind us, not even taking the time to remove her straw sandals.
“You were amazing!” I say.
“You should’ve seen your face!” Matt adds.
After checking that he really is okay, Umberto’s mother and brother step back so Heinz can guide the board out to the waves. The four of us stand knee-deep in the water and watch Carly ride her own wave to shore.
Umberto and Heinz catch six more rides before it’s time for us to head back.
“Dude!” Umberto says to me, now sounding like Heinz. “This was the greatest day of my life.”
“It was a team effort.” I gesture to Carly, Matt, Heinz, Bill, Eduardo, and Umberto’s mom.
barricade
Umberto changes back into his clothes and continues to talk to me through our makeshift terry-cloth barricade. “I am TOTALLY signing up for surf camp next summer,” he says.
Eduardo patiently helps Umberto into his wheelchair. As Bill drives off with the family, Umberto waves from the window, looking like the happiest kid on the planet.
donation
I reach into my pack for water bottles and an envelope for Heinz. It’s money from my last birthday, plus a donation from my parents to cover the cost of his time and equipment.
Heinz shakes his head and refuses the payment. “I borrowed the equipment from friends, so no worries. Besides, I enjoyed today as much as Umberto did. Save it for another time when we can all ride some waves together.”
And that’s exactly what we do.
A Cartoonist’s Real Job
subtle
Umberto can’t stop talking about surfing, about Heinz, and how perfect the waves are in Santa Monica. He constantly checks Surfline, keeping track of conditions even on days he has no way of getting to the beach. His comics reflect his new passion with a Ketchup Bottle Surfer as his main character. (No one can ever accuse Umberto of being subtle.)
One afternoon, I ran into Crash at the skateboard shop while shopping for a new board with my dad. When Crash waved without speaking from across the store, I decided to go over and talk to him.
Maybe it was my new confidence from working through all the weird stuff with Umberto that made it a little less awkward to approach him. We talked about boards, about Heinz, but never mentioned Carly, which was probably just as well. Crash seemed more like the kid who helped the woman in my mom’s waiting room that day than the guy who dumped one of my best friends. Spending time with Crash—if only for a few minutes—made me feel a bit better belittling him all those times with Matt.
mischievous
Cartoon club ends, as does Matt’s comedy class. (Mr. Owens seems more upset about it than Matt does.) So with some extra time on my hands, I decide to make a new comic strip. This one doesn’t showcase a monkey with super powers or a criminal baby seal, but a quiet mutt and a noisy boy. Sure, if you substitute a stuffed tiger for the dog it’s a bit like Calvin and Hobbes but even if I draw every day for the rest of my life I could never hope to come up with anything half as good as that.
unselfish
The boy in my cartoon is not as mischievous as Calvin and the dog is definitely calmer than Hobbes. The strip is called Man’s Best Friend, which is kind of a joke because the boy is nowhere near ready to be a man, except for a few times here and there when he actually thinks about other people first and makes an unselfish decision. But more often than not, the kid’s your average goofy twelve-year-old and the dog is content just to hang out with him.
Matt’s always liked a lot of action in my cartoons, so he keeps trying to get me to add explosions and runaway trains. I love that stuff too, but it doesn’t belong in this comic. For Man’s Best Friend, I want to show how much a pet can mean to a kid. I experiment with backgrounds, and my lettering is getting better. Dad thinks it’s my best work yet but you can’t really go by him.
perseverance
I’ve been working on it all week, throwing away a zillion drafts that didn’t work. I almost call it quits several times but remember something Umberto said about not giving up. The perseverance Umberto demonstrates in his cartoons—never mind day-to-day living—inspires me to keep going. It may take me a while, but I know I’ll get there.
rivalry
I sit in the backyard against the fence with Bodi, underneath the wall of jasmine, and wonder if I’m a good enough cartoonist to get across how much growing up with him has meant to me. How excited I’ve always been to run into the house after school and see him waiting by the door, wagging his tail. How my earliest memory is putting my hand inside Bodi’s soft mouth. How in half of my baby pictures, I’m lying on the rug alongside my dog. How he grabbed me by the diaper and pulled me out of the ocean when I was two years old. How he smells like summer after rolling around in the wet grass. How he always finds a little piece of sunshine to relax in, even when the backyard is filled with shade. How he didn’t have any sibling rivalry when Frank came to live with us. How he always knows when to put his paw on the edge of my chair when I’m sad. How I never mind picking up his poop, even the two-baggers.
Dad says a cartoonist’s job is to try to capture moments in life that are funny or filled with real emotion. I doubt I’ll be a good enough cartoonist to express all these memories in my drawings but I sure can try. I look over at my dog, grateful beyond words he’s still alive. I reach for my marker and begin.
About the Author
author
Janet Tashjian is the author of many popular novels, including My Life as a Book, My Life as a Stuntboy, Tru Confessions, and the Larry series. She loves doing school visits and talking to kids about writing. She lives with her family in Los Angeles, California.
janettashjian.com • mylifeasabook.com
About the Illustrator
illustrator
Jake Tashjian is the illustrator of My Life as a Book and My Life as a Stuntboy. He has been drawing pictures of his vocabulary words on index cards since he was a kid and now has a stack taller than a house. When he’s not drawing, he loves to surf, watch cartoons, and make his own movies.
Praise for My Life as a Stuntboy
“Another fun, emotionally resonant read for the Wimpy Kid set and beyond.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“This is a great package for kids, especially those like Derek who don’t think they like to read.… The draw of the story is matched by Tashjian’s keen observations of how kids really feel and how they interact with the world.”
—Booklist
“A fast-moving plot and relatable protagonist make this stand-alone sequel a good choice for boys who, like Derek, would rather reach for a TV remote or game controller than a book.”
—School Library Journal
“Derek’s voice remains dry, witty, and above all, honest, and his efforts to overcome his learning disability will certainly strike a chord with those readers struggling with similar issues and offer insight to their bookish counterparts. Jake Tashjian … provides another slew of wonderfully comic stick figures to populate the margins, mirroring and often elaborating on the text’s sly humor. Fans of the first will be utterly delighted by this sequel and anxious to see what Derek will turn up as next.”
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Other Books by Janet Tashjian
The My Life Series
• My Life as a Book
• My Life as a Stuntboy
• Fault Line
• For What It’s Worth
• Marty Frye, Private Eye
• Multiple Choice
• Tru Confessions
The Larry Series
; • The Gospel According to Larry
• Vote for Larry
• Larry and the Meaning of Life
Text copyright © 2013 by Janet Tashjian
Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Jake Tashjian
Henry Holt and Company, LLC
Publishers since 1866
Christy Ottaviano Books
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Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
All rights reserved.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Tashjian, Janet.
My life as a cartoonist / Janet Tashjian; with cartoons by Jake Tashjian. — First edition.
pages cm
“Christy Ottaviano books.”
Summary: Twelve-year-old Derek wants to train his pet monkey to help Umberto, a new student who uses a wheelchair, but Umberto would rather steal Derek’s cartoon ideas.
ISBN 978-0-8050-9609-5 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-0-8050-9895-2 (e-book)
[1. Cartoonists—Fiction. 2. Wheelchairs—Fiction. 3. People with disabilities—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction. 5. Youths’ art.] I. Tashjian, Jake, illustrator. II. Title.
PZ7.T211135Myc 2013 [Fic]—dc23 2012046201
eISBN 9780805098952
First hardcover edition 2013
eBook edition May 2013
My Life as a Cartoonist Page 10