You Must Be Joking!: Lots of Cool Jokes, Plus 17 1/2 Tips for Remembering, Telling, and Making Up Your Own Jokes [Hardcover]

Paul Brewer (Author), Kathleen Krull (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2003 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Robert (Cricket Books)

Children love to be funny and to swap cool jokes. All of the classic joke formats — jump jokes, knock-knocks, riddles, visual puns, and many more — are included and grouped by themes that reflect childrens's interests and lives including technology, monsters, aliens, families, school, and silly book, movie, and song titles. Each chapter ends with a “half-joke,” so that readers can test their growing skills by making up a punch line. Full-page drawings by Paul Brewer accompany each section, and spot art throughout the book punctuates the jokes with visual humor. The 17 ½ tips at the end of the book help the reader to develop confidence and a personal style of telling jokes. Also included are guidelines for writing funny jokes. Some of the author’s favorite lines submitted by readers will be posted on youmustbejoking.net. This collection of over 200 jokes and silly art will appeal to the class clown and stand-up performer in every child.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6--In his introduction, Brewer explains the value of laughter, points out that wordplay helps to "fire up the brain," and informs readers that telling jokes will allow them to practice their verbal abilities. He also includes some great tips on how to remember, deliver, and create your own quips. This section is a teacher's delight, since it provides inventive ways to improve both writing and speaking skills. The 200 laugh-out-loud jokes invite children to become comedians. The entries are organized into short thematic chapters covering aliens, monsters, computers, food, etc. The cartoon sketches scattered throughout the text add to the humor. A gem among joke books.--Cynde Suite, Bartow County Library System, Adairsville, GA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5. Joke books for new readers abound, but this targets middle-graders, even though some of the jokes are the same as one might find in books for younger kids. Brewer offers this not just as a joke book but as a primer for budding comedians. The last chapter has several pages of good tips for joke telling--among them, don't apologize before you tell the joke; and if you mess up, move on. The comedic bits themselves are pretty standard, but there are a lot of them, more than 200. The funnies are divided into topics such as "Unidentified Funny Observations" and "It's So Obvious" ("What do you have growing on your face between your nose and chin? Tulips"). Sprightly ink-and-wash illustrations extend the fun. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Cricket Books; 1 edition (October 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812626613
• ISBN-13: 978-0812626612
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #420,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well loved book, September 9, 2008

By 

D. Proctor (Pleasant View, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Must Be Joking!: Lots of Cool Jokes, Plus 17 1/2 Tips for Remembering, Telling, and Making Up Your Own Jokes (Hardcover)

I bought this for my son when he was 6 years old, and he LOVES it. He's had it at least a year, and I still will find him re-reading it. He already had an interest in humor & jokes, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to give him some new material.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, December 16, 2008

By 

T. Tysseling (Des Moines, IA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: You Must Be Joking!: Lots of Cool Jokes, Plus 17 1/2 Tips for Remembering, Telling, and Making Up Your Own Jokes (Hardcover)

We returned this book to Amazon. We were disappointed with it. I'd say it's for older kids and it's not a "clean" joke book. Lots of haunted house, monster, underwear, and potty humor.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You Must Be Joking, May 19, 2010

By 

K. Snuggs - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: You Must Be Joking!: Lots of Cool Jokes, Plus 17 1/2 Tips for Remembering, Telling, and Making Up Your Own Jokes (Hardcover)

this is a pretty fun book. my son is 6 so some of the jokes are hard for him to understand.