Jake Drake Class Clown

Knock, knock. Who's there? Jake. Jake who? Jake Drake, Class Clown. Miss Bruce is the new student teacher in second grade, and she never smiles. Never. But when Jake cracks up the class during a spelling bee, he sees the tiniest hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth. Suddenly, Jake has a new mission in life: to be so funny that even Miss Bruce will laugh! But then things get out of hand, and Jake finds himself in big trouble. Has Jake discovered -- too late -- that not everybody loves a clown?

Jake recounts his second grade introduction to Link Baxter, SuperBully, who becomes his class project partner, with surprising results. When Jake was three years old at Miss Lulu's Dainty Diaper Day Care Center, what did he know about bullies? Nothing. But he learned fast! Why? Because Jake was kind of smart and not a tattletale, and he had no big brother to protect him. He was a perfect bully magnet. But everything changed the year Jake was in second grade. That's when SuperBully Link Baxter moved to town. Jake had his hands full just trying to survive, until class project time. Who did the teacher assign to be Link's partner? You guessed it. Jake has to use all his smarts -- and his heart as well -- to turn himself from Jake Drake, Bully Magnet, to Jake Drake, Bully Buster.

"First Aladdin Paperbacks edition July 2001. This Aladdin Paperbacks edition June 2001"--T.p. verso.

The end of third grade turns into a disaster for Jake when he inadvertently becomes the teacher's pet, and no matter how hard he tries, he can't shake the image. Mrs. Snavin looked right past all those waving hands. She looked right at me and she smiled and said, "I think I'll have Jake take it." Then Mrs. Snavin said, "but be sure to hurry right back, Jake, because we're going to work on our number-line project, and you have to be my special computer helper, okay?" And I could feel every kid in the class looking at me. They weren't saying anything. They weren't even whispering. But right then, I heard what they were thinking anyway. They were thinking, teacher's pet.

When his older brother gets in serious trouble, sixth-grader Clay decides to change his own mischief-making ways, but he cannot seem to shake his reputation as a troublemaker.