What's So Funny?: Making Sense of Humor

A Junior Library Guild Selection

Q.   What do you call a dinosaur that's scared to tell a joke?
A.  A nervous rex

Who doesn't love to laugh, or to hear and see funny things?  But what makes something funny in the first place?  What exactly is humor?  Using fun facts, anecdotes, and more than a few silly puns, Donna M. Jackson explores the wide-ranging world of humor, explaining why our brains think something is funny, why you can tickle a friend, but not yourself, how to tell a joke like a professional comedian, and so much more.

Illustrated with Ted Stearn's hilarious drawings, What's So Funny? is a behind-the-scenes look at humor that will tickle your brain and your funny bone--after explaining what that is, of course.

Donna M. Jackson is an award-winning author of many nonfiction books for young readers.  Her work includes The Bone Detectives, The Name Game and, most recently, The Elephant Scientist -- named a 2012 Robert F. Sibert Honor book, a 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book, and an NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade book. She lives and laughs with her husband, Charlie, and their family near the Colorado's Rocky Mountains.