Review by New York Times Review
I HAVE been a fan of Jon Scieszka (rhymes with Fresca) since "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" by A. Wolf was published 20 years ago. Can you name another book that introduces the unreliable narrator to second graders? A former teacher, Scieszka - the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, appointed this year by the Library of Congress - has won awards and had best sellers with retellings of classic tales in "The Stinky Cheese Man" and "Squids Will Be Squids," not to mention many other books. "Knucklehead" is Scieszka's own tall tale, a memoir organized like a collection of snapshots about growing up with five brothers in the Flint, Mich., of the 1950's. Ever the teacher, in this slim volume Scieszka writes a model memoir. Or as he puts it, when you are getting in trouble "it's good to be the one telling the story." Scieszka gets children, and he gets their humor. Especially boy humor. He tells the truth about what really goes on when parents aren't looking. (Chapter 34, "Fire": "There is something about boys and fire that is like fish and water, birds and air, cats and hairballs. They just go together." Good thing Scieszka's mom was a nurse. The book's design is also inviting. There are 38 chapters of two to three pages each, with titles like "Who Did It?" With the timing of a stand-up comedian, Scieszka writes in "Watch Your Brothers": "That's what my mom used to tell me and Jim - 'Watch your brothers.' So we did. We watched Jeff roll off the couch. We watched Brian dig in the plants and eat the dirt. We watched Gregg lift up the lid on the toilet and splash around in the water." As someone who grew up with three brothers, I am familiar with boy knuckle-headedness. Scieszka makes the case for certain truths of boyhood, like why nothing beats a good game of "slaughter ball." "One guy would throw the football up in the air. The rest of us would try to catch it. Then once you caught it, you had to run around and try not to get 'slaughtered' by everyone else. It was a great game because you got to smash into a lot of people and then end up in a giant pile." Did you know it takes only seven pounds of pressure to break a collarbone? Just look it up in the index - collarbone, broken, 41. "Knucklehead" is perfect for middle schoolers, but it could also be a great family read-aloud. It is sure to bring up stories from parents about their own childhoods. My father-in-law, in his 80s, tells me that when he was a kid he accidentally set the field next to the V.F.W. hall on fire. Which reminds me of the time my brother Rob blew up a locker at school. Even though this is a book for kids, its ideal readers may be men over 40 who won't believe anyone wrote this stuff down. Lisa Von Drasek is the children's librarian of the Bank Street College of Education.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
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.--Barthelmess, Thom Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-A family with six overactive brothers is a breeding ground for a multitude ofantics and inventive amusements like watching the youngest brother eat cigarette butts, slipping toy soldiers into the Christmas creche, and playing games like Slaughter Ball. Packed into short, easy-reading chapters, Scieszka's over-the-top humor adds to the book's appeal. Audio version available from Brilliance Audio. (c) Copyright 2013. 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.
Review by Horn Book Review
Scieszka should have a disclaimer on the front of his memoir: don't try this at home. Growing up the second of six boys, he set plastic on fire, played a bone-breaking sport called "Slaughter Ball," and kept his mother (a nurse) and his father (a school principal) on their toes. In this laugh-out-loud audio edition Scieszka hits the punch lines with the talent of a stand-up comedian while authentically recalling the voice and emotions of his younger self. Scieszka is at his best in the chapter "Random Reading." Audiences will get a kick out of young Jon trying to explain through a one-sided conversation to his teacher, a nun, what MAD magazine is ("It's not a cartoon. They are little stories without any words...I see, Sister. Probably sinful, too"). Listeners can easily replay their favorite parts and marvel over and over again at how Scieszka grew from a kid who invented swear words for Sister Margaret Anne to a grownup who became a beloved writer. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Offering an answer to the perennial query about where his ideas come from, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature looks back to his early 1960s youth. Fans will not be surprised to learn that, except for his mother (a nurse, fortunately) he grew up in an all-male household: father, five brothers and "even our dogs and cats and fish." The resulting memories include group pukes in the back seat, slipping toy soldiers into the Christmas cr'che, playing neighborhood games like "Slaughterball" and idyllic summer expeditions into the woods around his grandparents' cottagenot to mention the pleasures of random dips into the household children's encyclopedia and spurning "those weirdos Dick and Jane" to "find out more about real things like dogs in cars and cats in hats." Illustrated with truly dorky school-yearbook photos and family snapshots, this account of a thoroughly normal childhood doesn't match Gary Paulsen's memoirs for hilarity or Tomie DePaola's for cultural insight, but it will draw chuckles of amusement from middle-graders (particularly less eager readers) and of recognition from their parents and grandparents. (Autobiography. 8-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
