Coming of Age

Strange things are happening to Jimmy Barclay: his voice cracks like a frog, his face is breaking out, and he's secretly shaving the fuzz on his upper lip. Suddenly his sister drives him crazy, and he can't even let his dad walk beside him at the mall. Worse, that cracking voice costs him his famous falsetto Juliet in Mr. Whittaker's Shakespeare show - and rehearsing Romeo's balcony scene with Connie Kendall, Jimmy discovers he's in love with her. When the Juliet role goes to Artie Powell instead, Jimmy quits in a huff, leaves his private journal behind, and panics into blurting his secret to Connie... only to learn she never read a word. Mortified, he hides in his treehouse, certain he can never show his face again. But Mr. Whittaker climbs up with good news: Jimmy isn't going crazy or dying - he's growing up, and he doesn't have to do it alone. Jimmy apologizes, makes peace with his dad, and opens his journal to start a brand-new journey.

Found on It's Another Fine Day... Album 11 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

0148 Isaac the Procrastinator When a bright student's habit of putting things off starts costing him grades, friendships, and opportunities, Whit offers him an unusual remedy.

0149 By Dawn's Early Light A school assignment about flag burning sends two kids tumbling through the Imagination Station into the War of 1812, where the question of what a symbol is worth stops being homework.

0150 Home is Where the Hurt Is A scheme to score a teacher's edition math book unravels when it forces Curt Stevens to face the one thing he's spent his whole life hiding - what's waiting behind his front door.

0151 ...The Last Shall Be First When Connie can't convince her stubborn great-uncle that it's never too late to come back to church, an ordinary cleanup job at Whit's End turns into a living lesson from an old parable.

0152 The Meaning of Sacrifice When the Barclay family gives up television for a month as an act of sacrifice to God, everyone discovers that keeping a promise is harder than making one.

0153 Mayor For a Day When young Curt Stevens enters Odyssey's Mayor for a Day contest convinced the job is all cushy offices and celebrity handshakes, his imagination shows him just how wrong he might be.

0154 Coming of Age Aspiring young actor Jimmy Barclay starts keeping a journal again just as a string of strange changes - in his family, his body, and his heart - begins turning his world upside down.

1 of 2 0155 Waylaid in the Windy City A business trip to Chicago turns perilous when Whit and Connie cross paths with a fugitive thief and a stolen laptop full of military secrets.

2 of 2 0156 Waylaid in the Windy City When Connie is taken by an old enemy demanding a top-secret computer as ransom, Whit must navigate a Chicago full of double-crosses where no one - friend or foe - is quite what they seem.

0157 Last in a Long Line A chance shortcut through a cemetery leads Eugene to a gravestone bearing his own family name - and a mystery that could rewrite everything he believes about being the last of the Meltsners.

0158 A Day in the Life When a Hollywood producer buys Whit's affectionate short story about everyday life in Odyssey, the whole town lines up for its shot at movie stardom.

0159 The Homecoming A young man with a troubled past returns to Odyssey seeking something the town may not be ready to give.

0160 A Rathbone of Contention When Bart Rathbone fast-tracks the grand opening of Odyssey's new electronics store, his habit of cutting corners - and borrowing other people's talent for free - puts the whole venture on shaky ground.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 1 more roles

1 supporting role

Artie Powell Kyle Fisk

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Phil Lollar Writer · Director · Producer Bob Luttrell Sound Designer · Producer Chuck Bolte Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 2 min

Jimmy Barclay has just rediscovered the journal he stopped writing in after a family vacation three years ago, and he has plenty to tell it, because strange things have been happening to him lately. First, his sister Donna is suddenly getting on his nerves, and when she catches him in the bathroom with a bleeding face, he has to admit he has been trying to shave the fuzz on his upper lip. Second, he finds it hard to be around his parents. When his dad, George, offers to watch a movie with Jimmy and his friends at the mall, Jimmy begs him not to walk up to the group with him, and though his dad quietly backs off, Jimmy knows he has hurt him. Third, his body seems to be falling apart: his face is breaking out, his chest is sore, and his voice cracks like a frog with laryngitis.

That cracking voice becomes a real problem at Whit's End, where Jimmy is set to play his famous falsetto Juliet in Mr. Whittaker's Shakespeare show. Artie Powell howls with laughter every time Jimmy's voice breaks, and Mr. Whittaker gently explains that the part needs a consistent falsetto Jimmy no longer has. He offers Jimmy the role of Romeo instead, and while rehearsing the balcony scene with Connie Kendall, Jimmy stumbles onto the fourth strange thing: he realizes he is in love with her. But when he learns that Mr. Whittaker has given Juliet to Artie, Jimmy angrily insists it is Juliet or nothing, and Mr. Whittaker sadly answers that it will have to be nothing. Storming off, Jimmy leaves his journal behind, and when he finds Connie holding a notebook, he panics and blurts out that he loves her, only to discover she never read a single private word. Mortified, he hides in his treehouse, certain he can never show his face in public again.

Mr. Whittaker follows him there with good news: Jimmy is not going crazy, and he is certainly not dying. He is beginning adolescence, the adventure of growing up that God has planned for him, with all its changes locked inside a tiny gland in his brain. It cannot be stopped, and it can be scary, but Jimmy is not alone. Everyone his age feels just as confused as he does, and Jesus is always with him, even when everyone else lets him down. Jimmy apologizes for how he acted, and the two set off to talk things over with Jimmy's father and to rescue the journal, where Jimmy records that he is starting a brand-new journey, one with a road he trusts will smooth out ahead.