My Life as a Gamer

My Life #5

by Janet Tashjian, Jake Tashjian (Illustrator)

Derek Fallon gets the chance of a lifetime―to participate in a gaming company focus group and to test out a new video game called "Arctic Ninja." Together with his friends Carly, Matt, and Umberto, Derek thinks his gaming talents will be showcased. But he soon realizes that everyone has got him beat, including whiz kid El Cid. On top of that, school reading tests have begun and Derek feels doubly off his game. Isn't there anything he's good at?

Genres: Humor, Juvenile, Middle Grade, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Kids, Gaming

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 2015

About the author

Janet Tashjian is a middle-grade and young adult novelist who’s been writing books for children for fifteen years. Her first novel Tru Confessions was made into a critically acclaimed Disney TV movie starring Clara Bryant and Shia LaBeouf. The Gospel According to Larry is a cult favorite and Fault Line is taught in many middle and high schools. Her novels My Life As a Book, My Life As a Stuntboy, and My Life As a Cartoonist are all illustrated by her teenage son, Jake. Their collaboration continues with Einstein the Class Hamster coming in August.

Janet lives with her family in Los Angeles, enjoying her respite from the long Boston winters. When she isn’t writing, she’s rewriting.

Janet has been doing school visits for fifteen years; you can email her at spatulaproductions@mac.com for details.

We invite you to follow her on Twitter @JanetTashjian and like her books on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Lif...
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Plus, check out her YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/janettash...

Reviews

[Erica Sonzogni · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent book! I definitely will be recommending this to many of my students. Even their parents would enjoy reading this. The main character is funny, yet lovable, in the fact that he has difficulties with reading and doesn't like school. As a teacher, usually this is a turnoff, but his friends give him strategies (the same ones I teach my students) which enables him to succeed. Also, in order for Derek to understand what he reads, he draws cartoons depicting vocabulary words in the margins. This helps to expand the reader's vocabulary knowledge as well as give them a tool to use when they learn new words. One item I would like to criticize, though, is how the author chose the vocabulary words in which to illustrate. On one page, for example, the word that is illustrated is "unlucky" while on the same page, the word "despise" is written but not illustrated. I would assume that most children reading this book would find "unlucky" an easy word that they already understand, yet not know the meaning of "despise". Additionally, I thought it was interesting the way that some vocabulary words were depicted. The word "loathe" had the illustration of someone eating a heaping plate of food with sweat coming off their forehead. I am not sure if I would find that helpful when trying to define the meaning of the word "loathe". Overall, this book had an excellent plot, normal and relatable characters, and would appeal to readers of all ages.

[Snazzy Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Niko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cattarin, Niko
Oct 27 2015
Goodreads Book Review
Language Arts



This book is about how a kid named Derek Fallon and his friends get invited to test the brand new video game called Arctic Ninja.The setting in this book was at Derek’s house and Global Games, a place where they test video games and film TV shows. The story is from Derek’s point of view. The protagonist in the story would be Derek. Other main characters are El Cid, Carly, Umberto, Matt and Tom their instructor. The book is mainly about how Derek gets a chance to test a new video game that could end up being famous.

I think this book was amazing and lifelike for me because I love to play video games just like Derek. A negative thing about this book is that Derek had to do homework instead of playing video games. I also did not like how almost half of the story was about testing, because I hate test.The reason I understood this book perfectly is because I’ve played all video games mentioned in this book

I would recommend this to a classmate who loves video games. This was the last book of the series but if there is another book in the series I will immediately get it.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic! This is a great Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series with a lot more plot and vocabulary words such as tirade, deadpan, and liberated. On top of all the great vocabulary and plot, it can really relate to kids in middle school. Derek Fallon's character is very similar to a typical middle school student. He loves to hang out, and play with friends. Throughout this book, it was also a rapid page-turner, wondering what would happen with Derek about him and his dream of testing out video games. After finishing this book, I learned a very important lesson: Things don't turn out as they seem to be. By all means, this book would be perfect for a middle school child who loves to learn new vocabulary words within the margins.

[Coralinaae · Rating 4 out of 5]

O M G mój shipshipship się spełnił. Na razie chyba mój ulubiony tom.

3,75/5⭐

[Nicky H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a kid named Derek Fallon that gets chosen to test video games along with other kids. Derek loves to play video games so he is really excited about this opportunity. His parents also want him to focus on school so they hire a tutor to help him with reading. At the beginning of this experience, he finds out that his best friend is in a gaming group with the best gamer in the world, El Cid. I reccomend this book to kids that enjoy fiction books about gaming and friendship.

[Paul Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that it was cool that Devin could write cartoons to go along with vocabulary words. I liked all of the pictures and the words together except for "admitting."

[Elizabeth]

technology column, April 2016

[Jose Saldivar Jr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over one of my breaks, I read My life as a gamer by Jake Tashjian, I really liked this book.I decided to read this book because, the main topic of the book is about video games I really like video games so thats one of the books that i would be intrested in reading. what caught my eye to read this book was the title/ cover of the book by looking at the the title/ cover caught my eye because as soon as i saw the title/cover i knew it was gonna be an amazing book because of how great the the picture looked and how much the title intrested me to read it you can find the book anywhere like in a library a local school or it could be somewhere around your home. The genre of this book is humor and adventure fiction .This book was great because the book is about a boy named Dereck Fallon and his friends who have an opportunity to test out a video game and to show their talents to the world.The dream that Dereck wanted was to test out video games and create his own game in the future. This book could be better if they added more detail and effort in the book but overall the book was amazing i would reccomend this book to anyone who loves books that are about gaming and about reaching your goals.

[Jayce Gurciullo · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Life as a Gamer was one of my first and is still one of my favorite books. It originally got me into reading and I still come back to reread it every now and then. The way Derek, Umberto, Matt, and Carly are set up builds perfectly off the previous books. Derek can relate pretty well to young children and I think the plot of the story, making the main characters play-testers for an upcoming game, as well as how it remains true to reality with the introduction of leaks and such, kept me interested in the book from a young age and even now as a teenager. My absolute favorite part of the book is how the illustrations are used to help children understand vocabulary; I remember having my own sketchbook that I would use to make drawings of words I didn't understand and it helped me learn more words that helped throughout school. I would definitely recommend this for children but it's a fun and enjoyable book, especially with Derek and his odd life as the main focus.

[Книжни Криле · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дерек Фалън, в какво ли ще се забъркаш този път? Заглавието говори само по себе си - „Животът ми като геймър“ е петата книга от небезизвестната серия „Историите на Дерек” на Дженет Тажиян и изд. „СофтПрес”. Това е може би и най-съвременното и актуално от всички досегашни томчета на поредицата, тъй като директно адресира не само младежките увлечения по виртуалните приключения, но и... често срещаните мечти за кариера в компютърните игри. Само че, както ще разберат и младите читатели, нито една кариера не е лесна, мигновена и винаги приятна, пък било и такава, свързана с видео игри и дигитални забавления! Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":
https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...

[Joaquin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Life as a Gamer by Janet Tashjian is a book about A kid named Derek who is called to test a new videogame called Arctic Ninja. Derek says that to his friends and they go to test the game every Sunday. I liked that the author made drawings to show what some possibly difficult words mean.
This book was interesting to read because it was interesting and funny. One thing I enjoyed about this book was that it was realistic because the world wasn't made for Derek because he loses things and doesn't have a perfect life. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because I enjoyed reading it and it had a great storyline. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes short books and have difficulties with some words.

[Christine Rains · Rating 3 out of 5]

All Derek wants to do is play video games with his friends, but the state tests are coming up and he really needs to study or he might flunk. Yet he gets a special opportunity to be part of a focus group to test a new video game. That's tons more important, right?

This is the first book from this author I've picked up. I read this with my seven-and-a-half-year-old son. He enjoyed the gaming parts and thought it was funny. He learned some new vocabulary words, and the little drawings in the margins are cute. I liked how Derek struggled with his reading and how he had to find a way right for him to study, but that part of the story got lost under the video game drama.

[Петър Панчев · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дерек се включва в маниашко състезание
(Цялото ревю е тук: https://knijenpetar.wordpress.com/201...)

Дерек става все по-забавен като герой на книга, но това не е изненада, понеже поредицата, в която се перчи като основен персонаж, е една от най-хитроумните, които съм чел. Засега петата книжка – „Животът ми като геймър“ („Софтпрес“, 2016, с превод на Виктория Иванова) – е последната преведена на български, но не след дълго, надявам се, ще се появи и шестата. Дженет Тажиян не пише бързо, но за сметка на това се справя блестящо. Чакам превода с нетърпение! 🙂 Ако някой все още се чуди не съм ли пораснал достатъчно, за да чета подобни книжки, ще напомня, че най-трудно се пише за деца. Освен това си трябва и страхотен илюстратор, който да „изпълни“ главата на детето с достатъчно ярки образи, за да възприеме текста по желания начин. За мен е удоволствие да пиша за подобни книги. Джейк Тажиян е просто изумителен с неговия картинен речник – пръчковидните му фигурки наистина придават тази необходима свежест, от която се нуждае една хумористична история. Дерек пък вече навлиза все по-дълбоко в живота на тийнейджърите и всеки читател може да усети промяната в характера и действията му. Е, на дванайсет нямаш кой знае какви доводи да порастваш преждевременно и да пропускаш най-дивите и щастливи години от живота си, но той се променя, както правят на тази възраст и всички останали деца. Сега обаче е време за модерни игри и Дерек ще се постарае да ни позабавлява отново.
(Продължава в блога: https://knijenpetar.wordpress.com/201...)

[Ved Mahadevan]

A twelve-year-old Derek has presented the opportunity of a lifetime, he has the opportunity to test a brand new video game. He is faced with a problem, which friend does he bring? and what happens when he meets the most famous gamer in the world? This book is a good but easy read. The humor in this book was great but the storyline was not the best. This was not the best book because I felt it was too short and there could have been much more description of the plot included. However, just because I didn't really like this book it doesn't mean that other people wouldn't like it. This book would be good for kids from about nine to ten.

[Shawna,first of her name,mother of kitties · Rating 5 out of 5]

This year I’m counting mine and my sons books together. We read this in our down time. I was surprised by how a boy with adhd was able to remember and focus on this book. There’s illustrations in the margins of words that may be harder for younger reads. We also loved that there was finally a story with someone who has a learning disability set in a positive and reassuring manner. There was also a kid in a wheelchair. My son has spina bifida so this was a major win with him. We are going to read the whole series now as we didn’t realize there were more books. Cheers to the author because YES!

[Izaan Rizvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really interesting and had a lot of detail into it. I especially liked the vocabulary on the side because it helps with new words which can be helpful for grades 3-5. What I didn't like that much was that half the ending was kind of expected. Even the other half wasn't, it kind of gives it away whenever you start reading the book, but either way, it was pretty good.This is the first "My Life" book and I enjoyed it.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked My Life as a Gamer because Derek and I have a lot in common plus, it's a great book to read. Derek is faced with Arctic Ninja and the state tests are coming up so Derek has to step up his learning ability to pass and keep his gaming ability up when he's up against El Sid, the #1 play station player. Carly and Amanda who is really El Sid, help with the state tests. In the end, Derek beats the state tests and beats Arctic Ninja as well.

[Green2017 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because it has video games and it has pictures for tricky words. One thing the author did well was the story and illustration. My favorite part was when Daniel finally wins Arctic Ninja. My favorite character was Daniel because he did a lot of video gaming. I relate to Daniel because we both do a lot of video gaming. I would recommend this book if you like video games.

[CRG · Rating 3 out of 5]

My life as a Gamer has an interesting combination of vocabulary and hilarious dialogues with a fun character; Derek Fallon get invited to test a new video game called, “Artic Ninja.” Derek and his friends test the new video game with the best gamer in the world, “El Cid!” (campeador:) I am joking! This book has a wonderful drawings and vocabulary!

[AMY · Rating 3 out of 5]

250 pages. I read two chapters and it was ok so far. A kid gets and opportunity to test out new video games. A possible purchase for my library. So far it is funny…not sure if I want to spend any more time reading it…

[Jack .V · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so hard to stop reading. I really did not see where it was going at first but then I caught on. This book might be 4th grade level but, there were hard words but and illustration in the margins. Over all this is a good book, same with the others.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up to see if it would interest one of my 2nd graders that for the past three years it has been hard to get him to read anything other than how to play Minecraft books in the library but I think this will definitely peek his interest!

[Troy Brittingham]

not the best one but still good

[Naima Hughley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the book was amazing because I really like games and I like how the story went, I would recomend people who like video games.

[Roberto R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good book anyone who read a My life as book should read this one and also whoever is interested in gaming books go ahead and read it this gaming adventure. ;)

[Sam Oestreich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gramden

[Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like the book with all of the personification and Imagery.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to my 7 year old and we both loved it.

[Dylan Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is funny and cool