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[CCBC-Net] Humor
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From: Lynn Rutan <lynnrutan>
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:09:14 -0500
I have really enjoyed reading the wonderful suggestions of funny books and it has gotten me thinking about the question of what makes something funny. People often have very different reactions to books but it seems to me it is even more the case with humor. I've been trying to identify some of the books that tickle my funny bone and that my students love too.
Books like The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Curtis and this year's Knucklehead by Jon Sczieska make us laugh with family interactions that most of us have experienced to some degree. Most of us have squabbled with siblings, broken household rules, exasperated our parents and had minor accidents. Kids and adults can all laugh at those scenes of four little boys all "crossing streams" or parachuting toy soldiers into the toilet. I love puns and word play and a lot of teens share my fondness for the inspired silliness of authors like Terry Pratchett and Daniel Pinkwater. I once disgraced myself on an airplane, laughing so hard at the Wee Free Men that my seatmates were contemplating locking me in the bathroom for the duration of the flight! Many of my teens love situational humor, where a hapless protagonist gets involved in a series of events that spin out of control such as 24 Girls in 7 Days.
I love Deb Caletti's ironic narrative voice as do a large group of our teen girls.
Most of us can identify types of humorous books that we especially respond to but but that still seems to end up being highly variable from one book to the next. Here is one small example. I have a close friend with whom I agree with about books 90% of the time. We both love word play, we both love books and children's literature, we both love spoofs. We both read Lois Lowry's The Willoughbys. A computer analysis would have predicted that we would both enjoy this book. I loved it, chortling from the first preposterous chapter to that wonderful glossary while my friend didn't like it at all. My hat is off to all the wonderful people who negotiate this unpredictable landscape and write humor. I think it must be the most challenging of genres to do well. Thank you for all the smiles and giggles ;-)
Lynn Rutan Librarian Holland, MI lynnrutan at charter.net
Received on Sat 15 Nov 2008 03:09:14 PM CST
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:09:14 -0500
I have really enjoyed reading the wonderful suggestions of funny books and it has gotten me thinking about the question of what makes something funny. People often have very different reactions to books but it seems to me it is even more the case with humor. I've been trying to identify some of the books that tickle my funny bone and that my students love too.
Books like The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Curtis and this year's Knucklehead by Jon Sczieska make us laugh with family interactions that most of us have experienced to some degree. Most of us have squabbled with siblings, broken household rules, exasperated our parents and had minor accidents. Kids and adults can all laugh at those scenes of four little boys all "crossing streams" or parachuting toy soldiers into the toilet. I love puns and word play and a lot of teens share my fondness for the inspired silliness of authors like Terry Pratchett and Daniel Pinkwater. I once disgraced myself on an airplane, laughing so hard at the Wee Free Men that my seatmates were contemplating locking me in the bathroom for the duration of the flight! Many of my teens love situational humor, where a hapless protagonist gets involved in a series of events that spin out of control such as 24 Girls in 7 Days.
I love Deb Caletti's ironic narrative voice as do a large group of our teen girls.
Most of us can identify types of humorous books that we especially respond to but but that still seems to end up being highly variable from one book to the next. Here is one small example. I have a close friend with whom I agree with about books 90% of the time. We both love word play, we both love books and children's literature, we both love spoofs. We both read Lois Lowry's The Willoughbys. A computer analysis would have predicted that we would both enjoy this book. I loved it, chortling from the first preposterous chapter to that wonderful glossary while my friend didn't like it at all. My hat is off to all the wonderful people who negotiate this unpredictable landscape and write humor. I think it must be the most challenging of genres to do well. Thank you for all the smiles and giggles ;-)
Lynn Rutan Librarian Holland, MI lynnrutan at charter.net
Received on Sat 15 Nov 2008 03:09:14 PM CST
