Guys Read: A Fistful of Feathers: A Story from Guys Read: Funny Business

Written by David Yoo

Narrated by John Keating

It's here: Volume One of the official Guys Read Library. Jon Scieszka's Guys Read initiative was founded on a simple premise: that young guys enjoy reading most when they have reading they can enjoy. And out of this comes a series that aims to give them just that. Ten books, arranged by theme, featuring the best of the best where writing for kids is concerned. Each book is a collection of original short stories, but these aren't your typical anthologies—each book is edgy, inventive, visual, and one-of-a-kind, featuring a different theme for guys to get excited about.

Funny Business is based around the theme of—what else—humor, and if you're familiar with Jon and Guys Read, you already know what you're in store for: ten hilarious stories from some of the funniest writers around. Before you're through, you'll meet a teenage mummy; a kid desperate to take a dip in the world's largest pool of chocolate milk; a homicidal turkey; parents who hand over their son's room to a biker; the only kid in his middle school who hasn't turned into a vampire, wizard, or superhero; and more. And the contributor list includes bestselling author, award winners, and fresh new talent alike: Mac Barnett, Eoin Colfer, Christopher Paul Curtis, Kate DiCamillo (writing with Jon Scieszka), Paul Feig, Jack Gantos, Jeff Kinney, David Lubar, Adam Rex, and David Yoo.

Guys Read is all about turning young readers into lifelong ones—and with this book, and each subsequent installment in the series, we aim to leave no guy unturned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Sep 22, 2010
• ISBN: 9780062027658

David Yoo

David Yoo is the author of the teen novels Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before and Girls for Breakfast. He is also a contributor to Guys Read: Funny Business. He spends his spare time staring unblinking (in either wonder or abject horror) at his newborn son, Griffin. David lives in Massachusetts, where he teaches in the MFA program at Pine Manor College and at the Gotham Writers' Workshop.

Reviews for Guys Read

[elissajanine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book of humorous short stories and will be able to find many ways to use this with my middle school students! Loved the Jon Scieszka and Kate diCamillo story with the letters to the author! So cool!

[kimjd_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

October 2010 SLJ: Gr 5-8–
Building on the success of Guys Write for Guys Read (Viking, 2005), Scieszka continues his mission to take the “reluctant” out of readers with this first volume of the “Guys Read Library.” For this title, Scieszka invited some of today’s top writers of children’s fiction to contribute a humorous short story. Not surprisingly, the resulting compilation has something for everyone. Looking for a story heavy on the ick-factor? Suggest Jack Gantos’s “The Bloody Souvenir,” in which the Pagoda brothers return to wreak more havoc. David Yoo’s “A Fistful of Feathers” features a bloodthirsty turkey intent on destroying the narrator’s life. Eoin Colfer offers an autobiographical piece that shares how his younger brother was his real-life inspiration for Artemis Fowl. Kate DiCamillo and Scieszka team up to offer a hilarious correspondence between Joe and an author who knows how to hold her own with unmotivated students. While these shorter stories may not have the liveliness of the authors’ full novels, each one is solid, and more importantly, it offers an introduction to that author’s style and voice. Don’t be surprised if students come seeking longer works by David Lubar, Christopher Paul Curtis, and other contributors after sampling them in this collection. Scieszka promises future volumes featuring other genres, among them nonfiction, sports, and action/adventure.–Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

[catheolson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a collection of stories by various children's authors, such as Adam Rex, Eoin Colfer, David Lubar, etc. While there were a couple of stories that were just so-so for me, most of them were freaking hilarious. I was laughing out loud through most of the book and ended up reading a couple of stories to my daughters because they just had to know what I was laughing about. I especially liked David Yoo's story of the boy being ousted from his family by a macho turkey and Sciezka and DiCamillo's collaborative story that parodies the book Dear Mr. Henshaw. The only think I didn't like about the book was that Jeff Kinney's story was left out of this advanced review copy . . . but you better believe I will be getting the final version.Though the recommended age range for the book is 8-12, I felt like some of the stories were more for older kids. I think this would be a perfect book for middle-schoolers -- boys and girls!