Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka [Hardcover]

Jon Scieszka (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

How did Jon Scieszka get so funny, anyway? Growing up as one of six brothers was a good start, but that was just the beginning. Throw in Catholic school, lots of comic books, lazy summers at the lake with time to kill, babysitting misadventures, TV shows, jokes told at family dinner, and the result is Knucklehead. Part memoir, part scrapbook, this hilarious trip down memory lane provides a unique glimpse into the formation of a creative mind and a free spirit.

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 3–6—Just try to keep kids away from this collection. Inspired book design makes the volume look like an old-school comic. The front cover features an elementary-aged Scieszka popping up out of a military tank, surrounded by explosions and bombers, while the back advertises a "Treasure Chest of Fun" and displays chapter titles and excerpts along with nostalgic graphics. Scieszka answers the oft-asked question, "Where do you get your ideas?" with a slew of childhood anecdotes and his family's escapades that have given him plenty of material from which to draw. Born in 1954, the second of six brothers, he writes about Catholic and military schools, buying gifts, chores, and hand-me-downs—all familiar experiences related with a specific Scieszka twist. His mother, a nurse, insisted that her sons use proper terms for anatomy ("rectum" rather than "butt") and bodily functions ("urinate" rather than "pee"), making way for several laugh-out-loud moments. Some stories are just amiably funny, such as wearing recycled Halloween costumes, while others help readers understand more about how the author developed his unique sense of humor. Although it includes the car trip story from Guys Write for Guys Read (Viking, 2005), Knucklehead is aimed at a younger audience. Family photographs and other period illustrations appear throughout. Entertaining and fast-moving, silly and sweet, this homage to family life is not to be missed.—Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA
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From Booklist

In this arch, glib, unapologetically shame-free outing, Scieszka, who grew up as the second of six sons, has written an autobiography about boys, for boys and anyone else interested in baseball, fire, and peeing on stuff. The format of the book is perfectly suited to both casual and reluctant readers. The text is divided into two- to three-page nonsequential chapters and peppered with scrapbook snapshots and comic-book-ad reproductions. The accessibly irreverent language pushes the boundaries of moderation even as it reflects a sort of skewed wholesomeness. But the real testosterone payoff here is in the stories, which range from losing battles with fractious parochial-school nuns to taking turns “watching” little brothers (wherein the author watched brother number six eat a cigarette butt and charged neighborhood kids to watch him do it again). By themselves, the chapters entertain with abrupt, vulgar fun. Taken together, they offer a look at the makings of one very funny author—and a happy answer to the dreaded autobiography book report. Grades 4-7. --Thom Barthelmess

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (October 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670011061
• ISBN-13: 978-0670011063
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Children's Books > Biographies > Literary

More About the Author

Jon Scieszka was born in Flint, Michigan on September 8th, 1954. He grew up with five brothers, has the same birthday as Peter Sellers and the Virgin Mary, and a sneaking suspicion that the characters in his Dick and Jane reader were not of this world. Those plain facts, plus his elementary school principal dad, Louis, his registered nurse mom, Shirley (who once took Jon's Cub Scout den on a field trip to the prenatal ward), Mad Magazine, four years of pre-med undergrad, "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show", an M.F.A. in Fiction from Columbia University, Robert Benchley, five years of painting apartments in New York City, his lovely wife Jeri Hansen who introduced him to Molly Leach and Lane Smith, Green Eggs and Ham, his teenage daughter Casey and almost teenage son Jake, ten years of teaching a little bit of everything from first grade to eighth grade, and the last twenty years of living in Brooklyn...are just some of Jon's answers to the questions, "Where do you get your ideas?" and/or "How did you become a writer?" I don't know, just because, none of your beeswax, and flapdoodle poppycock and balderdash are some more of Jon's answers to questions you can imagine on your own. Jon met up with Lane Smith around 1986 or so, and nothing has been the same since. Their first book, the wiseguy fairy tale retelling, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! was initially rejected by most publishers as "too weird" and "too sophisticated". Published by Viking in 1989, The True Story has now sold over a million copies, been translated into ten languages, and been called a "classic picture book for all ages". Jon and Lane's The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992) took the world of the picture book a few steps further. Goofing with the conventions of fairy tales and even being a book, The Stinky Cheese Man became a household word, sold another mess of copies in multiple languages, offended a few purists, and still managed to win a Caldecott Honor medal. Math Curse (1995) further stretched the notion of what subjects make good picture books, selling more books faster than either 3 Little Pigs or Stinky Cheese, and winning a whole slew of awards --all for a book full of mathematics.More recently, Jon and Lane have resurrected fables (in the smart, funny, and a little bit wicked way Aesop would have wanted them) in their latest collaboration, Squids Will Be Squids (1998). No telling where they might take the picture book next. Someone once wrote, "Jon Scieszka has forever changed the face of children's literature." And while there is still some confusion over exactly who that someone was, and whether children's literature does, in fact, have a face, most would agree-from The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! to Squids Will Be Squids, since Scieszka put pen to paper, children's literature sure has been...different.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Knucklehead, October 3, 2008

By 

A. Zadeh "Mom to red headed boys!" (Fort Worth, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an awesome funny book. My husband was raised in Michigan and has a sweet routine of telling my two boys ages 6 and 11 stories of his childhood at bedtime every night. He found this book and bought it for our 11 year old. He loves it. Last night he read it outloud to me and we both laughed so hard my faced hurt! Awesome book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great book, October 3, 2008

By 

12345678 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka (Mass Market Paperback)

As the mother of four boys (and a child of the 70s), I adore what Jon Sciezska has done for male-accessible literature. My sons are reading again and again the adventures of Jon and his brothers who "don't know" how mischief happens. Perhaps my favorite part of this book is his description of how the term "knucklehead" changed from being a deragatory term to a phrase of endearment. My boys love the funny stories of what happens when you get a pack of boys together.

We also love the book he edited, Guys Write for Guys Read, full of great authors that boys/men and the women who love them like to read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Having a boy? Here's your guide book..., January 3, 2009

By 

Jared Castle (Roseburg, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka (Mass Market Paperback)

I came across this title after enjoying The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales with my two sons, six-year old Kai and four-year old Kou.

To call Jon Scieszka's book "Knuckleheads" self-indulgent wouldn't be entirely incorrect. However, you'd miss the greater value this family scrapbook offers to young or expectant parents - anyone considering the daunting task of raising two or more boys.

Scieszka himself is the second-oldest of six boys. And like a card game of Slap Jack, he flips from one childhood memory to another. He doesn't dwell on any one topic, nor does he attempt to defend or analyze his behavior.

I called this book a family scrapbook and that's the fairest description for 38 chapters in 108 pages. Chapter titles serve either as how-to lessons for young boys or what-to-watch-out-for cautionary tales for parents:

Chapter 2: Who Did It?
Chapter 10: Watch Your Brothers
Chapter 16: Brothersitting
Chapter 32: Stop Breathing My Air

"Knucklehead" is a humorous quick read with a comic book cover design that makes it an eye-catching coffee table book. Better yet, consider giving the book as a baby shower gift, especially if the parents already have one son.