Guys Read: Funny Business

Robots, a mummy, a chocolate milk pool, turkeys and more all await you as you enter the wacky world in Guys Read: Funny Business. Short stories by some of the most brilliant children's book authors of our time fill the pages of this marvelous compilation written specifically with boys in mind. Be prepared to laugh until you cry, be entirely grossed out, fear for your life and possibly get a craving or two as you pick up one of the funniest books on the shelves today. With Jon Scieszka editing there's no doubt you'll find something to love within the pages of Guys Read: Funny Business. I'll be honest, it's taken me awhile to get to this book, but I'm so so glad I did. When I initially spotted it almost a year ago when it was released I couldn't help but want to read it. I mean, look at that cover! Isn't it hilarious? Also, I'm a huge fan of humorous stories, huge. I especially enjoy humor for this age group most likely because of the lack of inhibitions, particularly in boys, but also because generally speaking, kids are incredibly funny. I can hardly count how many times a day my two kiddos say something that makes my eyes well up with tears from laughing so hard. It's great! So this was simply a must read and I now that I'm done...I wish it was longer! One of the things that stood out to me when I was looking into information for our interview with Jon Scieszka was what he said about the Guys Read library of books he was working on. He mentioned that he was doing different themes for each book with different authors that were each the best at those types of writing. It absolutely shows in this volume. As far as I can tell it seems it would be quite difficult to write humor, I love reading it but couldn't imagine trying to write it. Each writer in this compilation was perfect for the book, though I'd have to say our family's favorite was the story by David Lubar, Kid Appeal. In nearly a single sitting I've read this entire story, about a kid who gets dressed up as a mummy for a school project, to the Turkeybird numerous times from beginning to end. Talk about amazing! It's nearly 30 pages long and that's quite a chunk for a four year old to sit through. Not only that he laughs all the way through, especially when words like "fart" are mentioned. It's hilarious! If you are someone who isn't easily squeamish but also loves a good solid hilariously funny read, Guys Read: Funny Business is exactly the book you need to pick up next. I'd be overwhelmingly surprised to learn of someone who's read the entire book and not laughed hysterically at least once during their reading. And with the appeal of short stories to keep the book moving along or making it easy to pick up for a few minutes here & there you will no doubt find multiple stories to enjoy. Fans of popular authors like Eoin Colfer, David Lubar and Kat DiCamillo may be in for a surprise or two when they pick up a new story from one of their favorites. Incredibly funny, well written and edited, Guys Read: Funny Business is a book I'm eagerly waiting to hand off to the Turkeybird when he gets old enough to read it on his own. Originally posted on my book review site: There's A Book [...]

I'm the opposite of who this book was intended for...and I loved it. If fifth-grade boy was the center of the target, Forty-year old mom wasn't even on the dartboard. But these stories are so funny, so poignant, and so well written, it seems a shame to let eleven year-old boys have all the fun. I found myself laughing out loud in a public coffee shop multiple times. My daughter's fifth grade class recently participated in National Novel Writers Month. In celebration of reaching their word-count goals, the class read excerpts of their 3,000 word novels to the parents. With child after child, I was amazed by their creativity and humor. While reading Guys Read: Funny Business, I was struck by the similarities. These stories managed to perfectly capture that same voice of a child, while layering on the exceptional writing and story arc that comes with years of practice and more than a smidge of envy-inducing talent. There is a line in one of the stories that goes something like this, "If you think you are going to be a writer when you grow up, don't you think you should take notes?' The young boy replied, "I have a great memory." Well, whether these authors have great memories or just made up new ones to help boys enjoy reading, the result is laugh-out-loud good. I highly recommend this book for kids who enjoyed Artemis Fowl, The Great Brain, and I Am A Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President. --Jessica

Jon Scieszka's book Guys Read Funny Business is a great book for kids ages 10 and up. The topics in the book could be complex or have a bad influence on kids that do not understand what could get them in trouble or could possibly hurt themselves. The ten short stories in Guys Read Funny Business ar humorous. the stories do not have anything in common with each other, in mu opinion this book is a great free time book to read for kids ages 10 and up. There is no inappropriate information in this book just humorous jokes and funny stories. One tiny example of humor that could have a bad influence on kids 9 and under is in the ladt of the ten short stories when a kid hangs out with some not so smart kids, "I opened the front door of the house and didn't see my mom so I quickly limped down the hallway... removed a rusty pair of needle nose pliers I had found in the street... They were a little dirty looking, so I rubbed them back and forth on my pants.. I shouted "One, two, three--- shazam" and with all my might I ripped the wart out of the bottom of my foot." As you can see form this example there is some very funny humor in Guys Read Funny Business but some of it could lead to some bad choices. Overall I thought this was a good book and I would recommend it to other kids.

Ever had that book of short stories by multiple authors, and there's like two *really* good stories and the rest are ok? This is not that book. The stories collected by the talented J. Scieszka are spot-on for GUY readers... as well as GAL readers who can totally relate to being a middle school guy. If you "throw-up a little" when confronted by mauled, oozing warts, don't read this book. If sarcasm from a child bristles your spine, don't read this book. If squirrelly, scheming boys send you into a hissy fit, don't read this book. If books where adults can sometimes be hostile, demented, tyrannical, and/or otherwise exaggerated cause you to find no morals to the stories, do not read this book. If turkeys scare you, definitely don't read this book. I laughed. I cringed, then channeled my inner middle-schooler and laughed some more. Bravo to all involved. Waiting for more, Mr. Scieszka!!

We needed this for a class and my son is enjoying it - he's in 8th grade and was required to choose from a list. He seems to have picked the right one - I caught him reading and not on his XBox! Winning!

New teacher introduced this series - really got my son and his friend's attention. Now they read for fun. Seriously.

Nice short stories, very funny. Always looking for books to appeal to boys --Guys Read never disappoints. Fistful of Feathers was one of his favorites.

There's an inherent danger in exposing an 8-year old to Jon Scieszka's books. Amid the laughs, my sons collect ideas and ponder schemes that routinely end in stitches, property damage or both. Guys Read: Funny Business is a humorous book but beware should it also become a how-to book for aspiring juvenile delinquents. I'm not suggesting Scieszka has unleashed danger on par with The Anarchist Cookbook but rather something akin to Calvin and Hobbes . Consider this: Calvin is much funnier when he's not building headless snowmen in your front yard. Scieszka gathers ten twisted children's fiction authors to deliver ten individual stories in "Guys Read: Funny Business." The peril ranges from innocuous with Mac Barnett's "Best of Friends," a story about a boy's dream to swim in a pool of chocolate milk, to gory terror with a botched wart removal in Jack Gantos's "The Bloody Souvenir." A bedtime reading selection, my sons' favorite stories in "Guys Read: Funny Business" are Adam Rex's "Will" about a late-blooming kid who wants to be special like his super-powered classmates and David Lubar's "Kid Appeal" about two friends whose efforts to win a contest puts them in a real bind. My first Scieszka experience was bedtime reading from the classic The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales . Curious to learn what shaped his writing style, I then read his autobiography Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka (not as a bedtime book, though). I learned he grew up the second of six brothers and attended Catholic school, two environmental factors he attributed to his sense of humor. Whatever the reasons, Scieszka knows how to make kids laugh. Rating: Four stars (a couple stories fall below the 5-star level).