From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Sun, 05 May 2002 10:24:41 -0400

Darcy asks, "Parody and bathroom humor aside, what are some really funny books?" As Megan wrote earlier, what we find funny is terribly subjective. Some of the books already suggested are not books I think of as funny although they have funny moments. That is, E. B. White's children's books have some very amusing moments, but I wouldn't put any of them on a really funny book list.

I do like word play and find Lewis Carroll's Alice books very funny (as do my students).

I also love magic wishes that go astray. From the Grimm tales to E. Nesbit's wonderful books to Edgar Eager's. I love the chapter in Half Magic when Carrie the Cat half talks. Or the one in Five Children and It where the Lamb grows up.

I know some will disagree, but there is something funny and satisfying to see villains in pain. Roal Dahl is the master of this sort of humor and I see it a bit in Lemony Snicket's books too.

Recently I've been watching the original Saturday Night Live (on E network) and have been struck by how much has become taboo since those 1975 broadcasts. There is Steve Martin, for example, stuffing cats down his pants. Can't imagine anyone doing that on network television today and expecting a laugh. But my kids and I do still laugh, a bit horrified, when the Herdman's poor cat makes its crazed way through a chapter or two of Mary Robinson's The Best (Worst) School Year Ever.

Oh, and what about the sort of humor Mark Twain does so well in Tom Sawyer? (Another maligned cat as Tom sneaks his dose of Painkiller to the poor animal.) Gary Paulsen does it too in Harris and Me. Very funny and very painful. However, Harris and Tom are like cartoon characters and always bounce back none the worse.

Monica

Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Sun 05 May 2002 09:24:41 AM CDT