You Must Be Joking!: Lots of Cool Jokes, Plus 17 1/2 Tips for Remembering, Telling, and Making Up Your Own Jokes - Hardcover

Brewer, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812626613 ISBN 13: 9780812626612

Publisher: Cricket Books, 2003

Synopsis

In addition to the jokes, cartoonist and artist Paul Brewer provides insights into what makes a joke funny, why we love to laugh and make others laugh, how to be more successful in doing that, and lots of great tips on how to remember jokes, how to tell them, and even how to invent your own. Each chapter ends with a half-joke, so that readers can test their growing skills by making up a punch line to fit the situation in the set-up of the joke. There?s no right answer, so kids can challenge themselves and each other to write the funniest joke.

All of the classic joke formats are included, along with the author's suggestions for mastering each type. Sections are accompanied by full-page cartoons, and spot art throughout the book punctuates the jokes with visual humor. The 17 ½ tips at the end of the book offer lots of help to the reader in developing confidence and a personal style of telling jokes, as well as nuts-and-bolts guidelines for writing funny jokes. The last ?1/2 tip? is an illustration for which the reader can write a punch line.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 3-6--In his introduction, Brewer explains the value of laughter, points out that wordplay helps to "fire up the brain," and informs readers that telling jokes will allow them to practice their verbal abilities. He also includes some great tips on how to remember, deliver, and create your own quips. This section is a teacher's delight, since it provides inventive ways to improve both writing and speaking skills. The 200 laugh-out-loud jokes invite children to become comedians. The entries are organized into short thematic chapters covering aliens, monsters, computers, food, etc. The cartoon sketches scattered throughout the text add to the humor. A gem among joke books.--Cynde Suite, Bartow County Library System, Adairsville, GA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist:

Gr. 3-5. Joke books for new readers abound, but this targets middle-graders, even though some of the jokes are the same as one might find in books for younger kids. Brewer offers this not just as a joke book but as a primer for budding comedians. The last chapter has several pages of good tips for joke telling--among them, don't apologize before you tell the joke; and if you mess up, move on. The comedic bits themselves are pretty standard, but there are a lot of them, more than 200. The funnies are divided into topics such as "Unidentified Funny Observations" and "It's So Obvious" ("What do you have growing on your face between your nose and chin? Tulips"). Sprightly ink-and-wash illustrations extend the fun. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Cricket Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0812626613
• ISBN 13: 9780812626612
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128