humor

Boom!

| Tasha

Boom! by Mark Haddon

Jim is a magnet for trouble, which is why he thinks his older sister might be telling the truth when she says that the teachers at his school are talking about sending him to reform school.  So he and his best friend Charlie come up with a plan to bug the teacher’s lounge.  While listening, they discover that two of their teachers are speaking in an unknown language.  Jim and Charlie set out to discover what exactly is going on in their school and stumble onto a plot that is much larger than they had ever dreamed. 

Haddon has written a book with a fabulous blend of action, adventure and humor.  The book has a break-neck pace at times that young readers will find great fun, combined with a sense of humor that will have them laughing out loud.  The relationship between Jim and Charlie is so well done.  It completely captures the tension of two best friends, the fights, and the immense connection they have.  I also particularly enjoyed Jim’s father as a character who is losing himself in model aircraft and then discovers cooking as a passion.  There are character who will surprise readers too, but I’ll let you discover that for yourself.  Let’s just say that Haddon excels at creating characters with real dimension.

Teachers and parents looking for a book to hand to reluctant readers over the summer need look no further.  It will also work well as a classroom read aloud thanks to its great pacing and writing. 

This fun blend of intrigue and science fiction will win readers over easily.  Perfect for lifting your summer vacation into orbit.  Appropriate for ages 10-13.

Reviewed from copy received from Knopt Delacorte Dell.

Animal Soup

| Tasha

Animal Soup by Todd H. Doodler

This book is pure silliness.  Pure.  There is not an educational item here, just lots of giggles and guesses.  Take one animal, add another and the result is a mixture of the two.  The book begins with “What would I be if I had wings to fly…” with a picture of a bird.  “…but walked very slowly instead?” with a picture of a turtle.  Then one lifts the flap to see the answer which is: Bird + Turtle = Birdle along with the image of the bird wearing a turtle’s shell.  Turn the page and it begins again and it is impossible to stop opening the flaps to see the silly combinations. 

Doodler has hit upon a winning combination here of humor and surprise.  His pairing of unlikely animals (who could resist finding out what a squirrel and a whale combine to become) along with the humorous names he calls them will have children laughing out loud.  His simple colorful art adds to the humor.  The animals are all googly eyed and the combination images are delightful. 

Hand this to a reluctant young reader and they will read it again and again.  It is an ideal choice for libraries with flaps that will stand up to most use and for storytimes where children are restless.  This will have them laughing and entranced in no time.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Golden Books.

Oh, Daddy!

| Tasha

Oh, Daddy! by Bob Shea

Told from the point of view of a very busy little boy, this book highlights the antics his father with undergo to get his son moving along.  In order to get him dressed, his father puts underwear on his head and asks if that is right.  Climbing in the car window, gets him to get into the car quickly.  Juggling carrots leads to the boy eating them eagerly.  This is inspiration for parents, especially fathers, to get silly to get things done.

This positive and silly parenting style is a pleasure to read about.  It got me thinking about the antics we would undergo when my sons were in preschool and Kindergarten.  Laughter is a great way to speed getting dressed along.  I always ended up with rabbit ears made out of sweatpants and my toes peeking out of tiny sleeves. 

It is also nice to see a father depicted as this involved with his child and the mother making appearances but not as a featured character.  There is no instance where the dad is not the one dealing confidently and positively with his son. Very refreshing to see. 

Shea is the author of several successful picture books.  His writing is filled with great short sentences that are simple but also filled with humor and a sense of fun.  His illustrations are bright colored, simple and modern.  This round blue family is sure to be a hit with preschoolers.

A perfect Father’s Day read, this is also a great book to read aloud just for laughs.  Guaranteed to get you and your audience giggling.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from HarperCollins.

Little Blog on the Prairie

| Tasha

Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell

When Gen’s mother signs the family up for Camp Frontier, they don’t know what they are getting into.  Now they must live like they are 1890s pioneers.  Which means wearing authentic clothing, cooking on a wood burning stove, milking cows, raising chickens, and living in a tiny cabin in the woods with an outhouse.  All of their electronics are confiscated when they enter camp, but Gen manages to sneak in her cell phone.  From there, she texts her best friends one of whom turns her texts into a blog for an assignment.  All is not dull work on the prairie, there is handsome Caleb who seems interested in Gen but might like Nora, the daughter of the owners better, and then there is the competition between the families and the drive to not keep being in last place.  Maybe this family bonding thing isn’t so bad after all.

Bell has created a book with a sharp wit and yet a homely warmth.  Gen is a great protagonist whose texts are fun to read.  Bell also has a feel for humor with the killer chickens and the cow milking scene.  Both are worth reading the novel for.  She writes best when dealing with modern teens juxtaposed with the world of 1890.  Bell’s writing is stilted in other scenes where there isn’t humor.  Her scenes with Nora and Caleb don’t flow with the same effortlessness as her humor.

Another issue is her characterization of the secondary characters.  Caleb, the love interest, is rather dull and quite normal though nice.  I don’t see why Gen who is bright, funny and complex would be entranced by this boy.  Nora, the homeschooled daughter of the proprietors, is also a disappointment.  Left to be rather cardboard and mean, she could have been a great example of a homeschooled kid.  Instead, she is envious and lonely.  What a missed opportunity she was a character!

One of the big successes of the book is that it never becomes a moral story about the dangers of modern technology and the isolation of modern family life.  Just as the book was approaching that, it veered into an unexpected direction that kept the novel fresh and interesting.

Despite the issues with the book, I could not put it down.  The humor and Gen kept me reading.  Recommended for readers who enjoyed Little House on the Prairie but also modern teens who wonder what would happen if their cell phones, iPods and computers were taken away.  Appropriate for ages 12-14.

Reviewed from ARC received from Bloomsbury.

Also reviewed by Semicolon.

Meanwhile

| Tasha

Meanwhile by Jason Shiga

Combine a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book with a graphic novel and you have this book.  Open the book and you are immediately stopped and the format is explained.  Follow the tubes, they move in all directions, and you get the chance to make all sorts of choices.  The first choice you have is ice cream: chocolate or vanilla.  That small decision sets you off on an adventure that could involve a time machine, entropy or even immortality.  The choice is yours.  Chocolate or vanilla?

Shiga has taken the best of both formats and combined them into a stellar book.  Readers get to make decisions that have direct impact on the storyline, they get to try to figure out codes to reach new areas, and there is the joy of a book with thousands of potential stories inside it.  At the same time, it also has the appeal of a comic book.  It’s filled with humor as well as drama.  One never knows where the next turn in the tube or story will take you, making it virtually impossible to put down until you have tried story after story after story.

Highly recommended for all library graphic novel collections, this book will be adored be reluctant readers, embraced by comic lovers, and simply enjoyed by most.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by 100 Scope Notes, Books4YourKids, and Comic Book Resources.

The Big Fat Cow that Goes Kapow

| Tasha

The Big Fat Cow that Goes Kapow by Andy Griffiths, illustrated by Terry Denton

This beginning reader features ten very short stories that are silly, raucous and great fun.  The book starts with a story where it is raining big fat cows, then tells the stories of Noel the Mole, Klaus the Mouse, and Willy the Worm.  The fun continues with human protagonists who ride bikes with spikes and wear lots of hats all at once.  All of the stories are told with only a few words, allowing the illustrations to carry a lot of the humor.  An ideal read for children who are reluctant to start reading, thanks to the humor that will keep the pages turning.

Griffiths has a great feel for comedy, offering surprising twists and turns in only a few words.  His writing has a similar feel to Dr. Seuss’ Ten Apples Up on Top in its brevity and rhyming.  Denton’s illustrations have a great frenzied feel.  They are filled with motion and wild characters.  I for one cannot resist a book where cows explode and udders go flying across the page.  Must be a Wisconsin thing. 

This is sure to find an eager audience among beginning readers who are looking for modern humor and silliness.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Becky at Young Readers.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

| Tasha

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Released April 2010.

Will Grayson is gay, depressed and only has one friend, Maura.  She’s more a friend of convenience with their snarkiness holding their friendship together.  Will heads out to Chicago to meet a boy he’s fallen for online, only to find out that Maura has been pretending to be that boy online.  This puts him on a path to meet another boy.  The other Will Grayson is straight.  He has lived most of his life in the large shadow of his gay best friend, Tiny.  Now he has started to like a girl, Jane, that goes to school with them.  Meanwhile Tiny is working on his very fabulous and very gay musical that is all about his life and prominently features Will as a main character.  Though both boys are different, there are similarities.  They both want to avoid feeling things too deeply, but their lives change after meeting one another.

These two great authors have created an incredible novel that is the best work of their of their careers.  Each author writes alternating chapters in the voice of their Will Grayson.  Green writes the straight Will Grayson with his trademark intelligence and humor.  Levithan writes the gay Will Grayson with equal humor that has a snap and darkness to it.  The two combined really make for a novel that readers will never want to end.  Add to this the genius that is the character of Tiny, a huge boy with an even bigger heart who lives life to the fullest.  He forms the hub of the novel, the voice of the musical, and the applause for both Will Graysons in all their differences and similarities. 

I love finding books that are savvy, smart, silly, funny, intelligent, irreverent, and honest.  This is one of those books.  Put it in the hands of teens, let them see themselves in it because we are all of us there in this book.  Gay and straight, we are there, and we can hear the truth and love being spoken in this novel.

Highly recommended, this is the best novel of the year so far.  Brilliantly written, gorgeously complex characters, and humor.  What more could you want? 

Reviewed from Advanced Reader Copy from publisher.

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Chester’s Masterpiece

| Tasha

Chester’s Masterpiece with NO help from Melanie Watt

In this third Chester book, Chester has completely taken over and is writing the book all by himself.  He has taken Melanie’s art supplies and her computer mouse.  But writing a children’s book isn’t as easy as Chester thinks.  He has to come up with original ideas, select a genre, illustrate the book, and then work on a happy ending rather than a gloomy one.  Luckily Melanie is right there with helpful criticism along the way, even demonstrating her skills as an artist with just a pencil.

I know this is going to sound odd, but I love the dynamics between Melanie and Chester.  Their quibbling is such fun to watch.  Here Melanie is confined to writing post-it notes to Chester as he creates his masterpiece.  Along the way, readers learn about what goes into creating a children’s book, though they will be having far too much fun to notice that they are learning things too.  Watts’ illustrations are done with such differing styles that it is easy to forget she is also drawing Chester.  The book design is a large part of its success and that is thanks to her art.

Highly recommended, but make sure you enjoy the other two Chester books too.  All three are such fun.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

The Purple Kangaroo

| Tasha

The Purple Kangaroo by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Peter Brown

Join in a silly romp of a book because you are invited by a mind-reading monkey.  He can read YOUR mind.  Close your eyes and think of something.  Then say it out loud and look into the monkey’s eyes.  Did you think of a purple kangaroo?  No?  Well monkey bets he can figure out what you’re thinking about next!

This book is pure fun.   Black’s writing is done in text bubbles, carrying the story forward at a fast pace.  The monkey is funny, irreverent and the story he tells about the purple kangaroo is so off-the-wall.  Brown’s illustrations add to the fun.  Who could ever forget the picture of the purple kangaroo blowing an enormous rainbow bubble-gum bubble out of his nose?  The humor will work for slightly older children than most picture books, making this the ideal book to take on a school visit to second and third graders.

Guaranteed to get classes laughing, this is one to share that is sure to delight.  Appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Also reviewed by Where the Best Books Are.

Check out this video of Michael Ian Black reading the book:

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