Jake the Fake Keeps It Real

Gr 3–6—Jake is starting sixth grade at the Music and Art Academy (M&AA). He's nervous not just because he's at a new school but also because his sister is an incredibly talented senior there and Jake might have gotten in by accident: he faked playing the piano and singing an original song. His struggles to fit in with the "weird and artsy" kids at his new school make up the bulk of the plot until the end-of-the-semester talent show is announced and Jake can't think of something to do. He eventually finds his real talent right onstage. Accompanied by comic strip—style art, this tale of middle school woes from Robinson (of The Office fame) and Mansbach (Go the Fuck to Sleep) hits a few humorous notes and more than a few flats. Notably, Jake's jokes sometimes rely on ableism (for example, he describes a piano piece as being so easy that "a guy with only two fingers could do it," further commenting, "That guy's nickname would be Peace Sign."). More disturbing, a whole segment follows the class on a field trip to the local mall, where they are assigned to go on a "vision quest" to find their "consumer spirit item" after an earlier reference to "a mummified Madagascar Monkey Porpoise," which serves as the teacher's former spirit animal. This type of flippant allusion to "spirit animals/items" perpetuates and affirms dangerous stereotypes about Native American cultures.