By: Kelli McKinney
Format: Available in Paperback, ePub, and MOBI
Genre: Contemporary Humor
Jeff Pennant’s Field Guide To Raising Happy Parents
Winner of the Angel Award for Best Middle Grade and finalist in the Readers Favorite Award, this laugh-out-loud story of learning what it takes to be in a family will make you see the world in a whole new way.
Jeff is always in trouble. He’s just living his best life, like his parents tell him to do. But whatever he does – whether it’s bottle rockets in the kitchen, or a fungus garden in his closet – he gets a new layer of being grounded. Now it’s starting to come between him and his friends.
Jeff decides it’s time to take the offensive. He begins a science experiment observing his parents to learn what makes them happy, so he can make them happy, so he can get what he wants, which is to go to Gamer Con that he’s grounded from.
As he tries new continually failing tactics and documents his discoveries, Jeff begins to see things in a new way. Maybe having friends and being part of a family doesn’t mean exactly what he thought it did.
Meet Kelli McKinney, the author of Jeff Pennant’s Field Guide To Raising Happy Parents
Susan Reimer –
Disaster seems inevitable when Jeff Pennant gets one of his big ideas. No matter how hard he tries he can’t make his parents happy. So Jeff turns his life into a science experiment and is surprised by what he discovers about himself, his family, and the true meaning of friendship.
Betty Vanderwielen –
This was such a fun read! At times hilarious, at times serious, Kelli McKinny’s book is a delightful romp through some of the worst phases of pre-teen growing pains.
Jeff is an endearing, irrepressibly optimistic kid. When his relationship with his best friends is threatened because of his parents’ frequent grounding punishments, Jeff rebounds by beginning a “scientific” study of what makes his parents happy. He creates a happy-face “visual guide” much like the one seen in a doctor’s office. But Jeff’s faces are much more expressive, with labels such as Guaranteed Grounding, Steer Clear, and Proceed with Extreme Caution. Using his guide, he evaluates the results of his various actions to make his parents happy (spoiler: most of them backfire horrendously!). But ultimately, Jeff’s “Field Guide” leads to fruitful revelations for both himself and his parents.
mesontag –
I loved this book. Jeff is a typical tween searching for friends as he tries to figure out who he is. He makes dumb decisions, but learns from them. The book is creative, humorous, fun, and a great read for kids, especially boys!! As a former middle school teacher, I highly recommend it.
Tessa –
This book was awesome! The voice is fantastic. Loved all the nerdy references. The protagonist, Jeff, is such a fun character that this book has universal appeal, but it may be especially enjoyed by boys and nerdy kids.
And as a parent, I appreciated that there was no questionable language or themes.
Beth Nieman –
Jeff is a very relatable 5th grade boy who loves science projects, hanging out with friends, writing haiku poems, and his favorite video game, Fire Ant Heroes 3. He hopes to attend a gaming convention with his two best buddies, Evan and Quenton (Q, for short).
The only things standing in Jeff’s way are 1) his mom; and 2) his dad. It seems there are a few areas in Jeff’s life that need improving, like not creating huge messes at the house (especially not ones that require assistance from the local fire department!). He doesn’t want to risk his chances for attending GamerCon, so he decides to create a guidebook to keeping his parents happy by observing their moods and figuring out how to maximize their happiness; presumably, happy parents will be much more likely to let him enjoying gaming.
Kids who like humorous fiction will enjoy Jeff’s exuberance and “go for it” attitude. The book includes several excerpts from Jeff’s guidebook illustrated with pencil drawings. As an adult reader, I appreciated the way Jeff’s character developed through the story; he made some positive changes, even while continuing to make mistakes. Readers get a glimpse of a loving family working through some problems and coming out stronger on the other side. As our first-person narrator, Jeff is lively, funny, and smart—he’s a great story-teller, too!