by Amanda Ashley Greenberg

Eloise Frank always knew that she wanted to be a comedian. Her favorite comedian of all time was Mel Brooks. Problem is, she didn’t know how to tell a joke. In the school library, she found a book called “How to Tell a Joke in Twenty Minutes.” She spent a couple of hours reading the book, but didn’t learn anything.

After a month of reading joke books, Eloise tried to create her own jokes. She came up with a joke, “Why did the mountain quake?” “It felt scared.” When she tried to tell her joke to her friends and teachers, they just made a face and walked away. This only made Eloise try even harder to make them laugh. On the bus each day after school, she told a joke. “Why did the cow moo?” “It wanted a moo shake.” At the supermarket, she told jokes to the stock people. “What do you call a rotten egg?” “Over cooked.” When she went to basketball practice, she tried her jokes on her teammates, but nobody laughed.

Her parents took her to a kid’s stand-up comedy show hoping to get her ideas. She got to meet a comedian, but sadly Eloise didn’t think she was funny. A week after Eloise went to the comedy show, Eloise’s school announced that there was going to be a talent show April 5th. Eloise had one month to learn how to make people laugh. Every weekend her parents took her to comedy shows.

A month of studying flew by before she came up with a joke of her own. “Why did the banana feel so sad?”  “It had split into a banana split.” The very next day she ran all around her school, telling her friends and teachers that she had a funny joke to tell. They all shook their heads, not believing her.

On April 5^th when she woke up for school, she walked downstairs. “Today’s the big day.” Eloise tried to shout, but only a hoarse voice came out. Her mom made her a bowl of tomato soup. After she slurped it up, her voice came back.

At the show when it was her turn to perform on stage, a little boy in the front rowaved at her. She smiled widely, starting to tell her joke. “Why was the banana sad?”

“Why?” The whole crowd called out. “It had a splitting headache.”

The whole crowd laughed.  A smile spread across Eloise’s face.  She was happy to finally be able to make people laugh. She waved at the audience and ran off the stage. 

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Amanda Ashley Greenberg grew up on Long Island, NY, in a town called Oceanside. She has always said that when you write a magical world opens, it up filled with endless stories.