Jordan and Max, Showtime

By Suzanne Sutherland and Michelle Simpson

Jordan had a tough time with the other kids at his old school.

So, on his first day at Massey Elementary, he has a plan: to be absolutely invisible. His new classmates don't need to know that his grandmother is his best friend or that they put on shows together dressing up in elaborate costumes each night in their apartment. When he's forced to pair up with Max, a loud-mouthed loner with a love for Hawaiian shirts, Jordan's cover of invisibility threatens to be blown completely. But with the help of his partner's unique artistic vision, Jordan begins to see that his sparkling secret deserves to be revealed.

This partially illustrated early chapter book is a gentle exploration of friendship, gender performance and identity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Sep 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781459826977

Suzanne Sutherland

Suzanne Sutherland is an author and editor of books for young people who is passionate about inclusive and engaging storytelling. Her debut novel, When We Were Good, was selected for ALA’s Rainbow Book List and Under the Dusty Moon was a Toronto Public Library Top Ten Recommended Read for Teens. Suzanne lives in Toronto.

Book preview

Chapter One

As he watched his grandmother’s car pull out of the parking lot of his brand-new school, Jordan’s many worries gathered together in his stomach and threw a wild party.

Jordan hadn’t wanted a big scene when they arrived, and his grandmother—who insisted that he call her Beverly, because that was her name—had promised that she wouldn’t give her grandson a kiss, or call him Jordy, or do anything at all to embarrass him when she dropped him off for his first day. Since Beverly was already late for work, she’d only said a quick goodbye as her grandson got out of the car. But now Jordan was regretting not asking for a hug. Just a small one. For courage.

Jordan watched the other kids on the schoolyard as they buzzed together in clusters of friends, laughing and talking in what sounded like a whole different language. Their excitement only made him feel more lonely, like he was a visitor from a faraway planet. Like he was the only one of his kind.

True, he’d felt like an alien at his old school too, but at least there he knew what to expect. He knew the kids who thought his hair was funny because it hung almost to his chin, and the kids who teased him about his belly, which stuck out in front of him and was the palest shade of white. He knew exactly what time to leave at the end of the day to avoid his worst critics in the schoolyard, and which teachers he could complain to about having a stomachache, the ones who would let him go down to the nurse’s office until he felt better—or until it was time to go home, whichever came first.

All images in this book are black and white illustrations. Jordan stands outside a school looking nervous.

This new school was an unknown world.

There was one kid, Jordan noticed, who hadn’t clustered up with anyone else. He sat at the top of the playground slide, scribbling in a notebook and looking much too busy to care about anyone else. He had dark skin and a cloud of curly hair, a pair of mirrored sunglasses, and a flower-print button-up that opened to reveal a T-shirt with words Jordan could read from all the way across the yard—No