Funny Business

August 17, 2009
Kids, adults, scholars—anyone interested in getting some behind-the-scenes info on children's books and their creators, past and present, will find much to enjoy in these eclectic offerings.
Funny Business: Conversations with Writers of Comedy
Compiled and edited by Leonard S. Marcus
. Candlewick
, $19.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7636-3254-0

In 12 entertaining interviews (and one equally entertaining e-mail from Daniel Pinkwater declining to participate), Marcus's compilation explores the childhoods, writing processes and senses of humor of well-known writers for children, including Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Daniel Handler, Norton Juster and Jon Scieszka. Marcus's evident knowledge of his subjects' writing makes for some intriguing questions and answers (“I used to crack jokes a lot, but they would always land kind of flat,” says Louis Sachar. “One of the nice things about being a writer is that you get to rewrite—and take back all the stupid things you said”). Photographs, manuscript pages and even e-mail chains between the writers and their editors add fascinating tidbits. Ages 10–up.

Starred review from November 1, 2009
Gr 6 Up-Marcus invites readers to listen as writers use their own words to tell "how they found their funny bones, their voices, and themselves." These are revealed in a series of interviews with 13 well-known and much-loved writers. Purists will only count 12 actual interviews. (A correspondence from Daniel Pinkwater is included; in it, he is typically offbeat and downright funny.) The selections provide insight into the authors' personalities, how they came to write funny books especially for young readers, experiences that stand out, and more. Each interview begins with a brief prologue by Marcus, a photograph of the writer, and the same question, "What kind of child were you?" Various correspondences, excerpts from their books, and early photographs appear in each one. The inserts suggest the interplay between writer and editor, show a page of a manuscript, or depict the author in an earlier time. Though always illuminating, these intriguing bits sometime impede the flow of the interview. Each one concludes with a list of books. The writers range from raucous (think Jon Scieszka and Daniel Handler) to gentle, thoughtful, or simply softer (e.g., Hilary McKay and Beverly Cleary). Also interviewed are Judy Blume, Sharon Creech, Christopher Paul Curtis, Anne Fine, Carl Hiassen, Norton Juster, Dick King-Smith, and Louis Sachar. As he did with fantasy writers in "Wand in the Word" (Candlewick, 2006), Marcus provides a glimpse of a group of extraordinary individuals whose books appeal to young readers. This title should find its way onto shelves for readers of all ages."Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at Washington DC Public Library"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 15, 2009
Grades 6-12 *Starred Review* Marcus follows The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy (2006) with another collection of fascinating interviews with some of childrens literatures most distinguished authors, including Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, and Christopher Paul Curtis. Here the subject is humor, and as Marcus points out in both his introduction and in remarks in the accompanying Story behind the Story feature, humor can be a tricky business to discuss: jokes get lost in translation, and timing is everything. Given the challenges that his focus presents, what Marcus accomplishes in this volume is particularly admirable. Readers searching for laugh-out-loud one-liners or a systematic study of humor will need to look elsewhere. What theyll find, instead, are expertly edited, candid interviews in which writers discuss not only their thoughts about, as Marcus writes, what makes funny funny but also the experiences, as both children and adults, that shaped their senses of humor and their work. The resulting anecdotes and musings are poignant and thought-provoking. Carl Hiaasen speaks about handling tormenting on the school bus with self-deprecation; Sharon Creech shares a childhood memory of donning a wild costume designed to lighten the mood of her arguing parents. Biographical introductions, photos (many of the authors in their youth), representative excerpts from the authors work, and reproductions of inked-over manuscript pages will further draw readers of all ages into these warm, revealing, and, yes, often-funny profiles that make essential reading for aspiring writers and childrens literature enthusiasts of all ages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)