Guys write for guys read

Review by Booklist Review

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 2005 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

An outgrowth of Scieszka's Guys Read Web-based literacy initiative to encourage boys to read, this volume reveals a rich array of voices, styles and approaches. The 90 children's authors' and illustrators' pieces reveal memories that defined their boyhoods and, in many cases, launched them on their career paths. Anticipating their audience, the contributors keep their works succinct and enticing, allowing boys to skip about, and dip in and out. What emerges is an affecting, articulate composite of the humiliations and triumphs of youth, touching on themes of sports, girls, school, fathers, brothers and the creative process. Terry Davis and David Klass share moving recollections of their fathers; Jack Prelutsky presents a lively poem about boys as well as a harrowing tale of his close encounter with a zoo lion; Gordon Korman offers a snappy enumeration of "Guy Things"; David Shannon recalls creating the first version of No, David! at the age of five (a reproduction of that early attempt is included); and Scieszka relays a comic-kid-pleasingly graphic-account of a family car trip on which the pet cat's upset stomach sets off a chain reaction. Though the tone of the entries ranges from comic to poignant and will resonate with readers to varying degrees, all convey a remarkable candor and eagerness to reach out to boys. Lloyd Alexander, Avi, Eoin Colfer, Jack Gantos, David Macaulay, Dav Pilkey, Walter Dean Myers, Peter S!s, Jerry Spinelli and Laurence Yep are among the others who enrich this inspiring revelation of what it means to be a guy. Ages 11-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Horn Book Review

(Middle School) Almost every guy-writer for kids gets his two-to-three-page say in this fundraising (for guysread.com) collection, and it's to Scieszka's credit that he goes beyond the usual suspects to include illustrators and sports columnists as well as a few educationalists particularly concerned with male literacy. The collection is a mixed bag of, primarily, autobiographical anecdotes that are mostly comic in intent if sometimes desultory in effect -- reading the ninety-odd pieces straight through is like going through a very tall stack of homework assignments on the topic of Being a Boy. But boys themselves won't read the book that way, with the loosely alphabetical arrangement encouraging them to look up their favorite writers and then skip around; the illustrated efforts of artists including Tony DiTerlizzi, Dav Pilkey, and Lane Smith add visual pizzazz. Some of the entries are stand-alone solid,including Scieszka's reminiscence of chain-reaction vomiting among his five brothers and himself on a family car trip, and Jack Gantos's tale of his trouble-magnet new neighbor and his mother's (unheeded) warnings: ""You are putty in the wrong hands. Don't get me wrong. You're a nice kid, but you are most definitely a follower."" Even the more mild-mannered anecdotes promise useful information for booktalks, and each entry concludes with a short list of the contributor's most guy-friendly books. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

The complaint that there aren't enough books for boys can be dismissed after seeing Scieska's new collection, for which 88 writers and illustrators have contributed work. Awkwardly titled (its allusion is to Scieszka's Web site), this well-intentioned anthology runs the risk of stereotyping boys with its tales of barfing, farts, sex, basketball and war, and all of the very short pieces appeal to readers with short attention spans and the need for frequent visual stimulation. However, as a collection of brief autobiographical essays, excellent for reading aloud and as models for writing, this is quite good. Lloyd Alexander writes about a first date, Marc Aronson about the pure male joy in throwing things, Jack Gantos about daredevil neighbors and Gary Paulsen returns to the theme of peeing on electric fences, first explored in Harris and Me (1993). If it leads boys to the many works by the authors represented, it will have done a fine service to its cause. (foreword) (Anthology. 11+) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Foreword Hey guys--now here is something for you to read. A bunch of pieces by a bunch of guys . . . all about being a guy. Some are memories. Some are stories. Some are just pieces of art these guys drew when they were your age. So look around in here for something you like. You don't have to read in any order. You don't have to like everything you read. You don't even have to read everything. But you do have to complete the quiz at the end of each section, and write an essay on each about-- Just kidding. That's exactly what this collection is not. It is not required reading. It's reading to find what you like. And I know you are going to find something in here, because these things are funny, action-packed, sad, goofy, gross, touching, stupid, true, and all very short. Thanks to all of the guys who donated their thoughts about being a guy to this anthology. All the money from this work goes to support my nonprofit literacy program called Guys Read. And it built the new Web site at www.guysread.com. Check it out. Find what you like. Jon Scieszka Brooklyn, New York 2005 Robert Siegel The Day I Threw the Trivia Bowl I have a confession to make: I threw the Trivia Bowl. The year was 1988. The place, eleventh grade. In 1988, as an academically advanced (read: geeky) sixteen-year-old, my primary objective in life was the maintenance of my low profile among classmates. I did not want to stick out in any way, especially for anything that had even the faintest whiff of dorkery. Problem was, I happened to be the captain of a formidable four-man Trivia Bowl team that was to represent the school at the countywide Trivia Bowl competition. For a boy prone to nightmares of academic achievement--related mockery, this was not good. The night before the Trivia Bowl, I was freaking. I imagined that if we won, they would proudly announce it over the intercom to the entire school during homeroom. This is what they did whenever someone did something notable. I imagined all the kids pointing and laughing at the trivia dork. This prospect terrified me beyond words. And yet, another part of me desperately wanted to win the Trivia Bowl. I loved trivia and, even more, I loved winning at stuff. It was a terrible dilemma. The day of the competition comes. We burst out of the gate strongly. What is the capital of Nepal? Kathmandu. What is the largest animal that has ever lived? The blue whale. By the end of the first round, we were in second place and, thanks to a furious late run, had momentum squarely on our side. I was excited, but all the while in the back of my mind, I was imagining that dreaded homeroom announcement. Things go even better (or worse) in Round Two. We take the lead. As the competition heads toward the finish, it becomes clear that it's a two-team race. Us versus our hated rivals from Massapequa. We go back and forth, trading blows like Foreman and Ali. It all comes down to one question. If we get it right, we win; if we miss, they have the chance to answer for the win. "Who shot Robert F. Kennedy?" Uh-oh. I know it. No one else on my team knows. They all look at me expectantly. I am well-known amongst them as the assassination expert. They assume I will blurt out the answer, which, of course, is Sirhan B. Sirhan. I hem and haw. What's going on? they are clearly wondering. Rob doesn't know? After what seems like an eternity, I give my answer: "Jack Ruby?" "I'm sorry, that's not correct." Massapequa pounces and gets it right. My teammates and I watch as they hold aloft the 1988 Trivia Bowl trophy in sweet victory. The whole ride home, I wrestled with my decision to blow the Trivia Bowl. I felt terrible about what I did, but at least I would avoid homeroom humiliation. Right? Wrong. The next morning in homeroom: "Congratulations to eleventh-graders Robert Siegel, Mark Roth, Adam Frankel, and Dan Eckert for their valiant effort yesterday in the countywide Trivia Bowl competition, in which they placed second." Not only was I a dork, I was a losing dork. The moral of the story is, if you're ever in a Trivia Bowl, don't throw it. Either way, they're gonna announce it in homeroom, so you might as well win. Biography Grew up: Merrick, New York (Long Island) Now lives: Manhattan Random fact: Has never burped Occupation: Former Editor in Chief of The Onion Selected Bibliography: Our Dumb Century: "The Onion" Presents 100 Years of Head-lines from American's Finest News Source with The Onion, Inc. Dispatches from the Tenth Circle: The Best of "The Onion" with The Onion, Inc. "The Onion" Ad Nauseam news archives with The Onion, Inc. Excerpted from Guys Write for Guys Read: Boys' Favorite Authors Write about Being Boys by Jon Scieszka All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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