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YA Humor
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From: Rob Reid <reid>
Date: Tue, 7 May 2002 13:12:25 -0500
I've taught Literature for Adolescents at UW?u Claire the last seven years. I hold a Comedy Club around midterm (when the students are frazzled) to illustrate how hard it is to find humorous YA books. The students are required to find a short 2-4 minute passage to read that teens would find funny (and would be appropriate - language-wise - for a public reading). Many had a tough time finding passages. They weren't confined to the YA genre (but were encouraged to start there).
To get them rolling, I read them an episode from Gary Paulsen's The Schernoff Discoveries where Harold Schernoff treats his first date like a scientific theory. He reads about kissing techniques and somehow winds up with his tongue up his date's nose. Another good scene to read from the book involves Harold exacting revenge on the football team for breaking his slide rule. The revenge involves several boxes of chocolate laxatives.
I also share Richard Peck's "Shotgun Cheatham's Last Night Above Ground" from A Long Way from Chicago and the short story collection Twelve Shots, edited by Harry Mazer.
This semester, one of my students came up with selections from Speak by Anderson. As mentioned in an earlier posting, while the book is not a humor novel, some of Melinda's views of the high school experience are very funny.
Other selections by this semester's students: Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson's books; Harris and Me by Paulsen; other chapters featuring Grandma Dowdel from A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder by Peck; Soup by Robert Newton Peck; Slot Machine by Lynch; How to Eat Like a Child and Teenage Romance or How to Die of Embarrassment by Delia Ephron; Joan Bauer's works; Dave Barry; Jerry Seinfeld; Ellen Degeneres; "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune" from Athletic Shorts by Crutcher; "Am I Blue" by Bruce Coville from Marion Dane Bauer's short story collection Am I Blue?; Douglas Adams; Terry Pratchett; Dorothy Parker; Robert Benchley; and what seems to be this group's favorite - Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas.
I also find reading the chapter titled "Greens" from Polly Horvath's The Trolls a great, funny read for elementary age and up. Even had success with high schoolers.
Rob Reid Youth Services/Special Needs Coordinator Indianhead Federated Library System 1538 Truax Blvd, Eau Claire, WI 54703 715?9P82, ext. 14 reid at ifls.lib.wi.us
Received on Tue 07 May 2002 01:12:25 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 7 May 2002 13:12:25 -0500
I've taught Literature for Adolescents at UW?u Claire the last seven years. I hold a Comedy Club around midterm (when the students are frazzled) to illustrate how hard it is to find humorous YA books. The students are required to find a short 2-4 minute passage to read that teens would find funny (and would be appropriate - language-wise - for a public reading). Many had a tough time finding passages. They weren't confined to the YA genre (but were encouraged to start there).
To get them rolling, I read them an episode from Gary Paulsen's The Schernoff Discoveries where Harold Schernoff treats his first date like a scientific theory. He reads about kissing techniques and somehow winds up with his tongue up his date's nose. Another good scene to read from the book involves Harold exacting revenge on the football team for breaking his slide rule. The revenge involves several boxes of chocolate laxatives.
I also share Richard Peck's "Shotgun Cheatham's Last Night Above Ground" from A Long Way from Chicago and the short story collection Twelve Shots, edited by Harry Mazer.
This semester, one of my students came up with selections from Speak by Anderson. As mentioned in an earlier posting, while the book is not a humor novel, some of Melinda's views of the high school experience are very funny.
Other selections by this semester's students: Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson's books; Harris and Me by Paulsen; other chapters featuring Grandma Dowdel from A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder by Peck; Soup by Robert Newton Peck; Slot Machine by Lynch; How to Eat Like a Child and Teenage Romance or How to Die of Embarrassment by Delia Ephron; Joan Bauer's works; Dave Barry; Jerry Seinfeld; Ellen Degeneres; "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune" from Athletic Shorts by Crutcher; "Am I Blue" by Bruce Coville from Marion Dane Bauer's short story collection Am I Blue?; Douglas Adams; Terry Pratchett; Dorothy Parker; Robert Benchley; and what seems to be this group's favorite - Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas.
I also find reading the chapter titled "Greens" from Polly Horvath's The Trolls a great, funny read for elementary age and up. Even had success with high schoolers.
Rob Reid Youth Services/Special Needs Coordinator Indianhead Federated Library System 1538 Truax Blvd, Eau Claire, WI 54703 715?9P82, ext. 14 reid at ifls.lib.wi.us
Received on Tue 07 May 2002 01:12:25 PM CDT
