Guys Write for Guys Read: Boys' Favorite Authors Write About Being Boys [Deckle Edge] [Paperback]

Jon Scieszka (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2008 | Age Level: 11 and up | Grade Level: 6 and up

This fast-paced, high-energy collection of short works features today?s most popular writers and illustrators writing about what it means to be a guy. Contributors include Chris Crutcher, Stephen King, Matt Groening, Daniel Pinkwater, Neil Gaiman, and many more. Includes an all-new foreword by Jon Scieszka and an excerpt from Knucklehead.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 5-9–Scieszka has put together a diverse and fast-paced anthology of scribblings and stories that deserves a permanent place in any collection serving middle graders. The book features brief contributions from scores of heavyweight authors and illustrators like Walter Dean Myers, Dan Gutman, Chris Crutcher, Avi, Brian Jacques, Dav Pilkey, Stephen King, Daniel Pinkwater, Jerry Spinelli, Will Hobbs, Chris Van Allsburg, Laurence Yep, and frequent collaborator Lane Smith. If there's one overarching theme here, it's the simple but important message: "read what you like, when you like, whatever that happens to be." Several other themes reappear in multiple selections. Among them are the importance of fathers, what it is to become a "real" man, how childhood reading predicted and shaped an author's future, adventures and misadventures in sports, why it's okay to be a "guy's guy," and, conversely, never being a "guy's guy" and finding out that that's okay, too. Boys who are constantly doodling–even when they're not supposed to–will be particularly inspired by contributions from successful illustrators like Tony DiTerlizzi, Timothy Basil Ering, and Brett Helquist, who've dug up their old, shaky drawings from parents' attics to show boys just what they were creating when they were kids. While the anthology arguably contains not one single masterpiece, there's something undeniably grand about this collective celebration of the intellectual life of the common boy.–Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. More than 80 guys (from Lloyd Alexander to Paul Zelinsky) contribute very short anecdotes about their boyhood. Scieszka has truly compiled a who's who of male writers, many from the YA world: Chris Crutcher reminisces about a disgusting high-school initiation rite involving raw oysters; M. T. Anderson recalls his constant worrying; Richard Peck writes of a Halloween prank gone awry; and Darren Shaw provides a "manguyifesto," asserting that guys burp and wrestle and "don't do pink." True, a few of the entries read like old guys reminiscing about the halcyon days of boyhood, which may make it difficult for some kids to connect, but fans will want to read about individual authors, and the inclusion of a bibliography for each writer will make it easy to find more books. Short entries and often lively subject matter make this a fine choice for reluctant readers. All in all, it's fun to read true stories from the lives of well-loved authors, and these fellas certainly know how to spin a yarn. John Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (April 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670011444
• ISBN-13: 978-0670011445
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Children's Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary Criticism & Collections

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a delightful surprise!, May 19, 2005

By 

J. Gallagher "Janice" (Germantown, Tn) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Guys write for Guys read (Hardcover)

I purchased this on a whim for my son's 13th birthday after receiving an Amazon recommendation. My son does not read voluntarily unless you count video game cheat sheets and Garfield cartoon books. The book arrived yesterday. I grabbed it along with the day's mail and headed out to pick up my son at school. I started reading the book in the middle, with Gary Paulsen's electric fence adventure, to amuse myself in a very slow carline. I was hooked and began racing through the selections picking out the authors of the stories our family has enjoyed over the years sometimes laughing out loud, othertimes recognizing all too well the growing pains of adolescence. My son finally arrived. I relenquished the book to him and asked him to indulge me and read the Paulsen story outloud. He did and was hooked as well. He read several selections to me outloud then took the book to bed with him, had it with him through breaksfast, and carried it to school as it is the last days of the school year so he will have extra time to read it. This from a boy who has never read anything over 100 pages in his life.

I will wait patiently for my chance to finish the book and will encourage Dan to write his own review but wanted to share the fun this book had brought us. I can see that we will be sharing this with Dad, Grandfather, and my young adult son and that this will be a college graduation gift for my daughter's boyfriend. What a great summer reading book for the whole family.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Experience, June 6, 2006

By 

Mathew Chacko (Staten Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Guys Write for Guys Read (Mass Market Paperback)

Dear Fellow Student/Guy/Avid Reader,

I saw this book in a Scholastic Book Order my social studies teacher handed out one day, and it looked pretty interesting. I have read hundreds, if not thousands, of books over the past thirteen years, and this is one of them that really meant something special. There are lots of great short stories and funny comics and illustrations that talk about everything: Dates, dads, siblings, dares, weight (yes weight), theft, cartoons, wrestling, sports, Boy Scouts and countless others. Boredom while reading this book is sure to be a rarity. What I also like about this great read is that at the end of each story or drawing is a brief synopsis of the author/illustrator's biography and a selected bibliography which highlights some of the inspiration for the author's works. I've read all the stories about three times and I'm eager to read them a fourth. Get this book, and you won't be disappointed. If you're like me, and you enjoy reading, pick up this book and laugh and cry at the countless tales of joy and woe. But hey, even if you hate reading and solemnly swear that you'll never touch a book for as long as you live, maybe Guys Write for Guys Read might just might change your mind.


Sincerely,
A 13 year old

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking and hilarious works from today's best male writers and artists, June 28, 2005

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guys Write for Guys Read (Mass Market Paperback)

As a woman, I've heard and confirmed a lot of rumors about guys. Most of them really do think with everything but their brains. They can have entire conversations revolving around three questions: "What's in the fridge?" "What's on TV?" and "She's hot, isn't she?" After years of dating guys and being friends with guys and eventually marrying a guy, I was ready to throw my hands in the air and shout from the rooftops, "It's true! Guys really are from Mars!"

Except that it's not true. Guys aren't from another planet any more than girls are. Guys are complex, funny, thoughtful, and sometimes downright hysterical. And no matter what kind of guy you are, there's a story in GUYS WRITE FOR GUYS READ that you will like and a guy writer who probably, in one way or another, felt a lot of the things you feel right now.

Jon Scieszka's anthology brings together the best male writers and artists around to write (or draw, or paint) about everything from dangerous books (Neil Gaiman) to the inability to resist danger in the form of the neighbor's homemade electric chair (Jack Gantos), to a very secret Lettermens' club initiation that involved raw oysters, olives, and shoes (Chris Crutcher). Every piece in this book, whether humorous or heartbreaking, conveys the spirit of what it means to be a son, a father, a friend, a hiker on the trail of self-discovery, and most importantly, a guy.

Even if you're a guy who normally hates to read, check out this book (you can read it one essay at a time if you're busy with sports, girls, or raiding the fridge), and take a look at Jon Scieszka's website, GuysRead.com.

I'd comment more on the book, but the guy in my life has stolen it and won't return it.

--- Reviewed by Carlie Webber