Guys Read: Kid Appeal: A Story from Guys Read: Funny Business

Written by David Lubar

Narrated by Bronson Pinchot

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: 9780062027702

David Lubar

David Lubar created a sensation with his debut novel, Hidden Talents, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Thousands of kids and educators across the country have voted Hidden Talents onto over twenty state lists. David is also the author of True Talents, the sequel to Hidden Talents; Flip, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a VOYA Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror selection; many short story collections in the Weenies and Teeny Weenies series; and the Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series. Lubar grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, and he has also lived in New Brunswick, Edison and Piscataway, NJ, and Sacramento, CA. Besides writing, he has also worked as a video game programmer and designer. He now lives in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

Reviews for Guys Read

[grandpahobo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Given that all the stories are about kids, they are pretty entertaining and amusing.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

children's short stories/humor. Finally, something to satisfy reluctant readers (both boys and girls). Though some of the stories were definitely better than others, I look forward to seeing more of these compilations.

[bryndahlquis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I surprised myself by enjoying the majority of these stories. Even the ones I didn't like weren't all that bad, either.My favorites:"Will" by Adam Rex was super good. I didn't want that one to end, and would love to read a full-blown novel version."Artemis Begins" by Eoin Colfer was also really good, and not just because I'm an Artemis Fowl fan."Your Question for Author Here" by Kate DiCamillo and Jon Scieszka. LOVED this one. I'm a sucker for letter stories, but this one was really well done."A Fistful of Feathers" by David Yoo genuinely scared me. Very disturbing.Like I said, the rest of the stories weren't bad. I would recommend the anthology not just to boys, but girls too.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Perfect for most 9-12 year-old boys, also pretty darn funny even for a mom. Dramatic, crude, stupid - and laugh-out-loud funny. I am thankful that one story was about a boy who wasn't as macho as the others.

[octokitten · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Contains daily essays on children's book recommendations for toddlers through teens alongside events and activities for every day of the year. Seems like a really fantastic resource to follow, especially as someone who constantly needs ideas for storytime. The site is easy to use either casually or to create booklists with the search feature that allows the user to pull up books by author, age, subject, or type of book.

[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!

[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!