Funny You Should Ask: How to Make Up Jokes and Riddles with Wordplay ANNOTATION
Offers an abundant cache of ideas about using words and wordplay to create engaging riddles and jokes.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
An abundant cache of ideas for using words and wordplay to create engaging riddles and jokes.
FROM THE CRITICS
School Library Journal
Gr 3-7-- Terban once again demonstrates the power of wordplay. This newest offering spills over with humor based on homonyms, homographs, and idioms, and explains how to create jokes and riddles using the peculiarities of the English language. Youngsters will not only come away with plenty of material to try on their friends, but will also receive pointers on developing their own. In addition to being fun, wordplay calls upon thinking skills and challenges readers in a playful way. The book is divided into chapters according to the linguistic ``trick'' that forms the jokes. A list of the word pairs or idioms used is given at the end of each chapter. O'Brien's comical pen-and-ink illustrations match the text beautifully. Although there are many other fine joke books such as Charles Keller's King Harry the Ape (Pippin, 1989), Louis Phillips's How Do You Lift a Walrus with One Hand? (Viking, 1988), and Fred Gwynne's A Chocolate Moose for Dinner (S. & S., 1988), Terban's is an excellent choice that adds an instructional dimension.-- Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ