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shawol87's review against another edition
4.0
The stories in this book are very good. I just don't like that it is marketed as a book solely for boys/guys. I'm a firm believer that no matter your gender, you like what you like.
pwbalto's review against another edition
5.0
It's like an old-fashioned hippie potluck, but with a big sack of Halloween candy where you'd expect the tabbouleh salad to be. But JEEZ I have been having trouble writing this review! I start off all right, I'm all, "Oh, I love guys, don't you love guys? Yeah, guys. Guys are gonna love this book," but then I get into having to give examples of why they're gonna love this book and all of a sudden the thing sounds just APPALLING.
So I'm not going to give any examples. Nope. Ok, here: in Christopher Paul Curtis's story "Iron John," the title character tricks his young children into thinking that he is so cold that his nipples have frozen, and he pretends to rip them off. And then his oldest son eats them.
See?
Full review on Pink Me: http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/2010/06/guys-read-jon-scieszka-review.html
So I'm not going to give any examples. Nope. Ok, here: in Christopher Paul Curtis's story "Iron John," the title character tricks his young children into thinking that he is so cold that his nipples have frozen, and he pretends to rip them off. And then his oldest son eats them.
See?
Full review on Pink Me: http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/2010/06/guys-read-jon-scieszka-review.html
rachel_abby_reads's review
3.0
My favorite stories were "Will" and "Your Question for Author Here." The others were okay, but definitely felt more for kids than the odd curious adult. I'm not sure how to process "A Fistful of Feathers."
book_nut's review against another edition
4.0
While it wasn't perfect, Eoin Colfer's story was enough to make the book for me.
ajsterkel's review against another edition
3.0
When I was a kid, I was what everybody called a “reluctant reader.” Basically, if you put a book in my hands, I’d do everything in my childish power not to read it. Jon Scieszka’s picture books are some of the first books I remember reading on my own and actually liking. His strange sense of humor worked on rebellious child-me.
I was very interested to see what kind of anthology Scieszka would curate. The Guys Read series is aimed at “reluctant reader” middlegrade boys, and the theme of this particular book is “humor.” Like all anthologies, this one is a mixed bag. A few of the stories are great, a few are terrible, and most are somewhere in between.
For me, these are the standout stories:
“Best of Friends” by Mac Barnett is about an annoying kid who tells his classmates that he won a sweepstakes. Suddenly, everyone wants to be his best friend. The characters in this story are all morally gray, so I automatically liked it.
“Artemis Begins” by Eoin Colfer is autobiographical (I think?). Eoin’s younger brother breaks their mother’s acting award, and his older brother goes to great lengths to keep the younger brother out of trouble. It was interesting to learn that many of Eoin’s story ideas come from growing up with rambunctious siblings.
My favorite story is “A Fistful of Feathers” by David Yoo. It’s about a boy whose parents attempt to replace him with a pet turkey. The plot is completely ridiculous, but somehow it’s also compelling. The characters are unique enough that I wanted to keep reading to find out what happens to them.
I wasn’t sure if I liked or hated “What? You Think You Got It Rough?” by Christopher Paul Curtis when I finished it. It’s about an abusive grandfather who tells his grandson a disgusting story about hotdog nipples. The ending is too sappy for me, but the story is well-written and gross, so it somehow stuck in my mind.
It’s hard for me to critique this anthology because I’m about as far from the target audience as you can get. For me, none of these stories are funny. They’re creative, entertaining, and totally disgusting, but I don’t remember laughing while reading. I can see how this book would appeal to young boys, though, so if you have a young reluctant reader, you might want to try this anthology.
I was very interested to see what kind of anthology Scieszka would curate. The Guys Read series is aimed at “reluctant reader” middlegrade boys, and the theme of this particular book is “humor.” Like all anthologies, this one is a mixed bag. A few of the stories are great, a few are terrible, and most are somewhere in between.
“Your brain is doing some great work when it's laughing.” – Guys Read: Funny Business
For me, these are the standout stories:
“Best of Friends” by Mac Barnett is about an annoying kid who tells his classmates that he won a sweepstakes. Suddenly, everyone wants to be his best friend. The characters in this story are all morally gray, so I automatically liked it.
“Artemis Begins” by Eoin Colfer is autobiographical (I think?). Eoin’s younger brother breaks their mother’s acting award, and his older brother goes to great lengths to keep the younger brother out of trouble. It was interesting to learn that many of Eoin’s story ideas come from growing up with rambunctious siblings.
My favorite story is “A Fistful of Feathers” by David Yoo. It’s about a boy whose parents attempt to replace him with a pet turkey. The plot is completely ridiculous, but somehow it’s also compelling. The characters are unique enough that I wanted to keep reading to find out what happens to them.
I wasn’t sure if I liked or hated “What? You Think You Got It Rough?” by Christopher Paul Curtis when I finished it. It’s about an abusive grandfather who tells his grandson a disgusting story about hotdog nipples. The ending is too sappy for me, but the story is well-written and gross, so it somehow stuck in my mind.
It’s hard for me to critique this anthology because I’m about as far from the target audience as you can get. For me, none of these stories are funny. They’re creative, entertaining, and totally disgusting, but I don’t remember laughing while reading. I can see how this book would appeal to young boys, though, so if you have a young reluctant reader, you might want to try this anthology.
mrsweems's review against another edition
4.0
A few of the stories were outstanding to read to my students. If you enjoy boy humor and funny antics then this is a good book.
nerfherder86's review against another edition
4.0
Great book for young guys: ten short stories by different authors, with plenty of gross-out humor and silliness. One is a science fiction story about a guy's parents being taken over by aliens; another is a bloody horror story about what happens when a wild kid doesn't tell his parents about the stupid stuff he's done to himself; Eoin Colfer's story "Artemis Begins" talks about his prankster brother and how that gave him the idea for his character Artemis Fowl. There's a goofy history project-gone-awry, a crotchety grandpa who tells a whopper of a memory, and an adopted evil turkey who is taking over the household. But my favorite story was "Dear Lady Author," cowritten by Jon Scieszka and Kate DiCamillo, in which a young man has to write a letter to an author for his school assignment. She writes back to him, but doesn't answer his questions in the way he thought she would. It is really funny and sweet. I would recommend this book to 4th-5th and 6th graders mostly, because the humor is pretty sophomoric and most of the characters are in those grades. There's a couple where they are in 8th grade but I can't see an 8th grader picking this up on his own. If a student needs something short to read, though, and hates to read, definitely try to get this in his hands. Hopefully it will inspire him to read something longer by any of the authors in it.
ubalstecha's review against another edition
4.0
An excellent collection of funny, silly and sometimes gross short stories and essays, written with the male reader in mind by some of the best children's authors out there.
Several stories in this collection stand out. The first is the short, and apparently true story, by Eoin Colfer about his inspiration for Artemis Foul. It involves a broken crystal plate, three brothers and a very angry mother.
The second is the equally good, but purely fictional, story about a young boy's attempt to complete an English assignment with as little effort as possible. Told as an exchange of letters between the boy and a children's book author, it is hilarious and rings true with authentic voices. My personal favourite in the whole book.
This is a must for any library where reluctant readers might be sent to "find a book". Get this.
Several stories in this collection stand out. The first is the short, and apparently true story, by Eoin Colfer about his inspiration for Artemis Foul. It involves a broken crystal plate, three brothers and a very angry mother.
The second is the equally good, but purely fictional, story about a young boy's attempt to complete an English assignment with as little effort as possible. Told as an exchange of letters between the boy and a children's book author, it is hilarious and rings true with authentic voices. My personal favourite in the whole book.
This is a must for any library where reluctant readers might be sent to "find a book". Get this.
librarybrods's review against another edition
4.0
The narration was just out of the park. Especially loved the DiCamillo/Scieszka collaboration.
tbonegreg's review against another edition
3.0
(3.5) The stories were all over the map, but were supposed to be held together because they were funny. Some managed this more than others. We especially liked the Christopher Paul Curtis story, though. The collection was worth it for that story alone.