Customer Reviews

The Blade: Shellville High School Yearbook

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Funny, witty, and a real quality satire. If you know sheep, this book is funny. If you know high school year books, this book is funny. If you know nothing about either of the above, this book is funny. If you know the idiot publisher, kidnap, torture and hold for ransom: another printing!!!!!

"The Blade" makes you laugh! Anyone who has had a high school yearbook will recognize the format. Using sheep in place of humans, Novello manages to capture all the personalities that every high school has--the jocks, the preppies, the druggies, and even the multi-sibling families that have students in each grade level! Each page of this "yearbook" has something hilarious to read, whether it pertains to the school French Club, the Soccer team, the faculty & staff, cheerleaders, or class field trips. Quite simply, it is a truly fun book, cleverly written and produced. Even the local advertisements in the back of the book are hilarious! Unfortunately, "The Blade" is "out-of-stock" and is not easy to find. If it ever reprints, I want multiple copies. Friends keep stealing my original copy

Does this book have a curse on it or something? I, too, loaned this comic classic to a college roommate and never saw it again. Did anybody see Don Novello plug this book on The Tonight Show (that was the Johnny Carson days)? He appeared as Father Guido Sarducci, and showed several clips from the book in his usual understated style. My Mom and I were rolling, but Johnny didn't seem to quite cotton on to the whole idea. Anyway, the above reviews don't lie. This is absolutely the funniest thing I have ever seen. You can look through it time and again and find something new. I love the shot of the sheep playing frisbee ("Our frisbee football team didn't do so well this year.") I doubt it'll be reprinted, so we can only hope to find it used somewhere. Think of all those idiots from college who have it sitting in the back of a closet somewhere.

"More, more, more." B. Idol (quote under one of the sheep-student portraits.)

I met Father Guido in Seattle during a Labor Day Weekend music festival, and I asked him as many questions as I could about Blade.

He said his initial idea for the book came from seeing a picture of a sheep in a newspaper. The picture was closely cropped, and it reminded him of a high school yearbook photo. From that he got the idea for the book. He did a few sample pages, and sold the idea to a publisher.

He said the book had a large initial printing, but has been out of print ever since.

He seemed really happy that people liked, remembered and still wanted the book.

I picked up my copy in 1985, not long after it was published, and shared it then with my entire family. You see, we were all born and raised in Schellville (note the spelling) and raised farm animals. What a riot this book is! Sheep really do look like people I went to school with, and the same dumb things were written in my yearbook way back then. I most enjoyed studying the photos and placing each familiar building and scenery here in Northern California.

If you like movies like "Waiting for Guffman", then this is yer kind of book. Not for everyone--thankfully!

As I was shopping for the standard textbooks at the University of Tennessee bookstore back in 1985, I saw a stand-up display of Father Guido hugging a sheep, saying "This is honestly the funniest book I ever read." I thought if it's got Father Guido's endorsement, it merits my attention. After seeing but one page, I knew I had to get it. And after dozens and dozens and dozens of reviews, I still found things so subtle it makes me think there are still jokes to be seen. One sheep is listening to headphones, and you can just see the corner of the album to which he's listening: only a Paul McCartney fan would recongnize the album "Ram". I loved the Taggert twins, along with their mom, who's on the faculty, and younger brother. AND THEY ALL LOOK RELATED! Bummer WAS the class clown. And what was with the donuts at the Mall of Malls? I got a copy for my brother (who was surrounded by a completly different set of friends with whom to share), and it was just as big a hit for him. Alas, almost ten years ago I broke the cardinal rule of dating and let my then girlfriend borrow it just before we quit seeing each other. I've searched high and low, and have only seen it in a used book store in Micanopy, FL several years ago. Why I didn't get it I'll never know. It's definetly worth a reprint. I know I'll buy a copy or two!

I'll remember a lot of things about my grad school roomate: the wierd houseslippers, the fez he kept on his bookshelf, the post-shower ritual that, for all the world, sounded like he was slapping his stomach to some strange rhythm known only to him. But I shall be forever grateful to Dale for introducing me to Don Novello's "Lazlo Letters" and "The Blade." Truth is, I can't remember laughing as much in my life, before or since. Toth is one in a million (though some have tried to imitate him) but "The Blade" is without equal. Novello (who else could have done this?) takes the hitherto unmined high school yearbook and strikes comedy gold. Every silly, oversentimental yearbook cliche (the sappy poem written by the head cheerleader), as well as timeless convention (the picture of the marching band seated on the bleachers), from the dear old annual you remember is here. Only the students and faculty of this school are sheep! There is the principal sheep, whose portait is, of course, twice as large as the rest of the faculty sheep. There's the little, perky sheep co-ed who's a member of every single dipsy-doodle school club (her little, perky sheep picture is sprinkled throughout the book. Then, of course, there's the obligatory memorial page to the sheep that died during the school year. I promise, you're going to laugh yourself sick. Please, publishing big-wigs everywhere: bring back the "Blade." Surely it's high time for a Shellville reunion!

This book is great entertainment! Don Novello is pure genious. Who would have though that sheep could be so funny. I have spent countless hours thumbing through the pages, and it has saved a few very boring dinner parties. Everyone who has ever seen this book loves it. I still find things I missed the first hundred times that I read it! I loaned my book to a friend, who loaned it to a friend, and so on and so on. Needless to say I no longer have my copy and have been searching for it ever since. Please reprint this book. It must be shared with generations to come.

I couldn't stop laughing from the cover to the back page. I swear I went to school with these sheep. They looked just like people I knew in high school. This book must be reprinted! It's a classic.