From: Regina Pauly <paulyr>
Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 16:41:20 -0500

I was trying to think up a really funny YA author and all I could come up with was M.E. Kerr. But then all her books are not funny, but "Little, Little" and
"Dinkey Hooker Shoots Smack" I remember thinking were very funny when I read them in a YA class in college. I decided to check in a reference book to see what is recommended, and I pulled "Best Books for Senior High Readers" off the shelf. I found less than two pages of Humorous Stories listed. And I realized except for two, I had never read any on the list though several had been made into movies that I had seen (The Mouse that Roared, The Object of my Affections, Cold Comfort Farm, Being There, and Up the Down Staircase). When one compares the listing to the other fiction sections, humorous and sport stories are seemingly not as popular. Or is it much more difficult to write humor for an older audience? Here's a couple of stories from the list that I will seek out.
  The Education of H*Y*M*A*N*K*A*P*L*A*N by Leonard Ross
  Where the Kissing Never Stops by Ron Koertge
  Simon Pure by Julian Thompson
  A Semester in the life of a Garbage Bag by Gordon Korman.

  Actually my favorite story hasn't been mentioned - Superfuge by Judy Blume. I ended up buying a copy just so I could reread it every now and then. Even here though her younger stories seem much more funny than those she writes for the YA level.

  Regina Pauly
Received on Fri 17 May 2002 04:41:20 PM CDT