Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

My kids and I love the True Story of the Three Little Pigs. I bought this book, Knucklehead, because the author is really clever and funny. My 8 year old and I laugh out loud reading it. I would highly recommend this book!

This hilarious book of brief essays about growing up in a loving, large Catholic family in the 1960's where the author was one of six brothers is sure to make both children and adults laugh out loud. Amply illustrated with photos of the Scieszka clan, Jon Scieszka's great affection for his family comes through in every page, even in the stories of surviving Catholic school, family Christmas photos, he and his rambunctious brothers `breaking" their youngest brother, and many other mischievous antics. Plenty of nostalgia comes through in his tales of summers spent roaming around the woods in the days before Game Boys and parental fear of strangers put most boys inside the house or in organized activities.
Some "potty" humor may turn off girls, but this book is aimed straight at the reluctant boy readers Scieszka is targeting with his Guys Read initiative. A joy to read, this delightful book is a must-have for all public and school libraries and makes a great gift for adults as well as kids.

Hi, my name is Samantha and I had a reading project assignment to do for school and one of the books that I chose was, "Knucklehead". This is a very funny book about the author, Jon Scieszka, who grew up in Flint, Michigan with his 5 brothers. He tells all kinds of funny stories about his childhood. I like when he tells about ordering a set of toy soldiers and then when he gets them in the mail it is not what the advertisement described, or when the babysitter gets locked in the closet. He talks a lot about when he and his brothers were home alone with the babysitter and other funny things. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

This book captured about 80% of the "humorous" things I did growing up with brothers. My upbringing was apparently replicated by at least one other family. If you want to take a stroll back on memory lane to your childhood and reflect on how great those times were, this book is for you. It a compilation of short chapters on various activities I and the author managed to survive (what does not kill you makes you stronger... right?).

Purchased as a stocking stuffer for our 18 year old daughter who loved Jon Scieszka's books when she was younger.

It's a quick read and she thought it was funny and enjoyable.

This book is my fifth grade son's new favorite dose of laughter. He wanted me to buy it for all of his boy cousins, and was reading the crazy stories aloud to them. Scieska makes his childhood a great memoir to read for middle school boys as well as adult men who are raising children of their own.

With five brothers, Jon Scieszka had a very exciting childhood. He and his brothers were always into trouble (and placing the blame on eachother). This autobiography contains stories from Catholic school, sending away for stuff in the back of comic books, chores, visits to grandma's house, boyscouts, holidays, and all the other things boys got up to in the 1960s. Scieszka's sense of humor shines through as he regales his audience of the stories that inspired his award-winning books for children. Knucklehead is a great read for boys - or girls - of any age.