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Coffee Breath
This book is recommended for ages 9 - 12.
Jason Flynn is in big trouble. Due to an unfortunate string of bad behavior and mischievous deeds, he has been sentenced to the cruelest of punishments. A punishment that no child, nor adult if they are lucky, should ever experience. Jason must spend his entire summer vacation helping out around his mom's office - The Law Offices of Flaherty, Flibbert & Fitz. From Filbert and his unusual family tree, to Basil the IT guy who knows the office equipment a bit too intimately, everybody in this office is slightly insane. Join Jason in this wacky corporate world that makes as much sense to him as it does to most office workers - and watch as he learns to appreciate the joys of just being a kid.
Jason Flynn is in big trouble. Due to an unfortunate string of bad behavior and mischievous deeds, he has been sentenced to the cruelest of punishments. A punishment that no child, nor adult if they are lucky, should ever experience. Jason must spend his entire summer vacation helping out around his mom's office - The Law Offices of Flaherty, Flibbert & Fitz. From Filbert and his unusual family tree, to Basil the IT guy who knows the office equipment a bit too intimately, everybody in this office is slightly insane. Join Jason in this wacky corporate world that makes as much sense to him as it does to most office workers - and watch as he learns to appreciate the joys of just being a kid.
62 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 15, 2008
3 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Beth Labonte
15 books366 followersBeth Labonte received a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She worked as an administrative assistant for fourteen years, turning to writing as her creative outlet in an excruciatingly mundane corporate world. Beth now writes full-time and resides in Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 5, 2011
Coffee Breath, by Beth L. Labonte, isn’t the kind of fiction that usually makes my reading list. In fact, I never would have found it if I hadn’t been on Smashwords the night her new comic novel, What Stays in Vegas, went live. However, after following a few links, perusing her blog (Secretary 4 Life), and laughing myself silly, I bought this short YA offering. I’m so glad I did.
This charming piece is basically a surreal look at office life from a twelve-year-old boy’s point of view. Let me be clear: there’s no real story here; instead it’s a collection of character sketches – both in Ms. Labonte’s words and Joshua W. Reinke’s drawings. The whole piece is cleverly written and engaging, despite the lack of plot. The lessons Jason learns from a summer working in his mother’s office are lessons all office workers are likely to recognize. If they don’t, they haven’t been paying attention.
The book is well-edited; in fact, I found no grammar or punctuation errors at all.
After this tempting taste of Ms. Labonte’s talent, I look forward to reading her new novel – as well as her future work. I highly recommend this for anyone trying to explain to a child what it’s like to work in an office.
This charming piece is basically a surreal look at office life from a twelve-year-old boy’s point of view. Let me be clear: there’s no real story here; instead it’s a collection of character sketches – both in Ms. Labonte’s words and Joshua W. Reinke’s drawings. The whole piece is cleverly written and engaging, despite the lack of plot. The lessons Jason learns from a summer working in his mother’s office are lessons all office workers are likely to recognize. If they don’t, they haven’t been paying attention.
The book is well-edited; in fact, I found no grammar or punctuation errors at all.
After this tempting taste of Ms. Labonte’s talent, I look forward to reading her new novel – as well as her future work. I highly recommend this for anyone trying to explain to a child what it’s like to work in an office.
November 13, 2015
Coffee Breath is a story without any plot, except to show the readers how strange an office can be. Jason goes around spending time with all of the whacky characters, each of whom have a short chapter devoted to them, usually about three pages.
Beth L. Labonte, who works in an office as an Administrative Assistant, was surely inspired by the things she witnesses at work, whether they be situations or people. She has used these observations to create a fictional workplace filled with the silliest of workers.
The book does not really have an overriding plot. Each chapter is sort of a stand-alone chapter about a person or object and has Jason interacting with the star of the chapter. The illustrations by Joshua W. Reinke are fairly simple and, in my opinion, something a kid in middle school could have drawn. Still, they fit the overall wackiness of the book and I was fine with them, but would have preferred some artwork that was a little more professional. On the other hand, since this is a self-published book . . . I understand.
The only small problem I had with the book is the size of the font. Most Young Reader books have a larger sized font than adult books to help the kids follow the lines of text more easily. This book has a font size you see in most adult books. A larger font would make the book more appealing to younger readers.
Overall, Coffee Breath is a fun, silly, strange, and good tale of a law office with one screw loose, make that many screws loose. Young Readers will enjoy all the madcap characters and the funny situations that Jason finds himself in. I only wished that the book was a little longer.
I rated this book a 7 out of 10.
Beth L. Labonte, who works in an office as an Administrative Assistant, was surely inspired by the things she witnesses at work, whether they be situations or people. She has used these observations to create a fictional workplace filled with the silliest of workers.
The book does not really have an overriding plot. Each chapter is sort of a stand-alone chapter about a person or object and has Jason interacting with the star of the chapter. The illustrations by Joshua W. Reinke are fairly simple and, in my opinion, something a kid in middle school could have drawn. Still, they fit the overall wackiness of the book and I was fine with them, but would have preferred some artwork that was a little more professional. On the other hand, since this is a self-published book . . . I understand.
The only small problem I had with the book is the size of the font. Most Young Reader books have a larger sized font than adult books to help the kids follow the lines of text more easily. This book has a font size you see in most adult books. A larger font would make the book more appealing to younger readers.
Overall, Coffee Breath is a fun, silly, strange, and good tale of a law office with one screw loose, make that many screws loose. Young Readers will enjoy all the madcap characters and the funny situations that Jason finds himself in. I only wished that the book was a little longer.
I rated this book a 7 out of 10.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews