Jacky Ha-Ha
Year: 2016
Author: James Patterson
Length: 273 minutes / 4.55 hours
As my children get into longer books (and can pay attention to audiobooks), I’ve appreciated some of the stories that they have chosen. One such book was Jacky Ha-Ha by James Patterson. The story of a goofy kid trying to find her purpose—or at least who interacted with adults who saw her promise—was an amusing coming of age tale. The problem with the narrative was mostly around the negligent father figure who was absent for most of the story. This subplot was my main qualm with the book.
The titular character in Jacky Ha-Ha frames the story as an acceptance speech years in the future, where she no longer suffers from the stuttering that gained her this nickname. The presence of mentors at her school who saw her clowning as a potential for improv and acting is the engagement I want from those who are teaching my kids, so I appreciate that push to have Jacky try things that might make her embarrassed or push her outside her comfort zone. These days, it seems rare that someone outside the family would show an interest in mentoring a child who is frequently in detention, so I like to think that people like that still exist.
Unfortunately, the familial conflict revolved around Jacky suspecting that her father was having an affair. The number of evenings he was outside the home, leaving the large family of kids to fend for themselves for dinner was honestly grossly negligent. The explanation for his absence in the end wasn’t the satisfying twist it was meant to be because it still glossed over the fact that Jacky had made this whole scenario up because he wasn’t there to actually parent these kids. Overall, that left a sour taste as it was such a crux to the plot.
A good story about mentoring troublesome kids, but with some troubling parental neglect, I give Jacky Ha-Ha 3.0 stars out of 5.
