CHEEP Shots: Joking around with Chirp

WHAT DO YOU CALL A RABBIT THAT TELLS JOKES?

A FUNNY BUNNY!

WHAT DO YOU COMB A BUNNY WITH?

A HARE BRUSH!

WHY DID THE BABY CHICK CROSS THE PLAYGROUND?

TO GET TO THE OTHER SLIDE!

With a cute yellow chick acting as stand-up comic, Joking Around with Chirp: More Than 130 Feather-Ruffling Jokes, Riddles, and Tongue Twisters! (Owlkids Books, 2013) will have them all howling in the aisles with laughter. This just published comedic compendium includes updated version of oldies but goodies and many new punny riddles which are rib-sticking, rib-tickling fare for early readers as well as for older kids who have come to dote on witty wordplay.

WHY DIDN'T THE LOBSTER SHARE ITS TOYS?
BECAUSE IT WAS A LITTLE SHELLFISH!

WHAT DO YOU CALL A SLEEPING BULL?
A BULLDOZER!

And for readers who are nutty over knock-knocks, there are some nifty numbers:

KNOCK KNOCK?
WHO'S THERE?
WATER.
WATER WHO?
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TODAY?

The editors at Owlkids, publishers of Chirp, ChicaDee, and Owl Magazines, know how to make savvy use of  page design to set off what are described as 130 Feather-Ruffling Jokes, Riddles, and Tongue Twisters, mixing full-color photos of animals with speech balloons with cartoon pages with the comic Chirp delivering the punch lines. A whole menagerie of animals are featured, from cute kittens to perky puppies all in a row cracking jokes, from camels to kangaroos doing comic cameos on their own pages. In an innovative format with eye-catching photos and novel jokes that also fire kid's word skills, Joking Around with Chirp: More Than 130 Feather-Ruffling Jokes, Riddles, and Tongue Twisters! offers a giggle on every page, clever comic quips certified to crack up kids, as these ducks do!

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DUCKS FLY UPSIDE DOWN?
THEY QUACK UP!

How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs? by Jane Yolen

HOW DOES A DINOSAUR
KEEP HIS DOG CLEAN?
DOES HE SCRUB IT TOO HARD?
DOES HE ACT REALLY MEAN?

Even if he's a pachycephalosaurus, a dog owner has to be kind, empathetic, and loving. In their best-selling style, Jane Yolen and Mark Teague's How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs?
(Blue Sky Press, 2010) show kids how to keep their dogs happy and healthy. Feeding walking, grooming, all the nitty-gritting jobs of pet ownership are covered, with Mark Teague's winsome dinosaurs showing the wrong--and right way for a little dinosaur to love a dog.

HE LOVES HIS DEAR DOGGY,
AND DOES EVERY CHORE.
PAT IT NOW,
BOW WOW WOW--GOOD DINOSAUR

And for slightly older kids who dote on dinosaurs, rhyme, and riddles, don't miss Yolen and Teague's latest, How Do Dinosaurs Laugh Out Loud? (Cartwheel, 2010), their first dedicated joke book starring their troupe of dinosaurs.

WHAT DO YOU CALL A DINOSAUR SLEEPING IN YOUR BED?

A DINO-SNORE!!

AND HOW DOES A JOKE FAN WAKE A DINO-SNORE?

HE ASKS SWEETLY BUT LOUDLY--GIVE US MORE!!

Ennui Antidote: The Big Book of Boy Stuff by Bart King

A boy can may turn to any page and find something to do, laugh at, or think about. In fact, he won't have to turn a single page.

If you're willing to judge a book by its cover, this one is already a winner. The dust jacket reverses to a dead ringer for that venerable black-and-white-marbled composition book, complete with fill-in-the-blank name and subject label with "154 sheets". Beneath the sturdy faux jacket, the staid navy cloth cover is imprinted with the word "PHYSICS" in gold script. It's the perfect go-anywhere underground guide to fun.

Inside the convertible cover, Bart King's The Big Book of Boy Stuff(Gibbs-Smith Press) is chock-a-block with all kinds of guy stuff to do, culled from many sources, some as ancient and non-politically correct as Sir Robert Baden-Powell's boy guide manuals to modern compendia of crafts, science experiments, games, jokes, and construction projects, all designed to get a boy off his duff, off the X-Box, and off his parents' backs doing something fun, preferably in the great outdoors.

A few items give offer nuggets for boys who've always wondered about stuff--what to do after you put beans up your nose, how to cook stuff that grosses out your buddies but still tastes good (anyone for Crapola Cookies?). Others include the magic and card tricks, the "sun tattoo" or secret writing ("PREPARE TO DIE" written on with a cut potato on the bathroom mirror to startle the bather after a steamy shower) or with milk or lemon juice. For the great outdoors there's the milk-jug fort (offer to recycle all your neighbors' cartons and be sure to wash them pronto!). There are diagrams for constructing paper airplanes and model rockets, slingshots, and other things that fly through the air. Most of these are compiled from other in-print sources, with the advantage of being captured under these easily disguised covers.

Like the runaway bestseller of the summer of 2007, The Dangerous Book for Boys, this one makes a super end-of-school gift or summer birthday present for people of the guy persuasion as a nostrum against the summertime blahs.

And, of course, author Bart King has a feminine version, The Big Book of Girl Stuff, all glammed-up in a pink composition book reversible dust jacket and pink cloth "CHEMISTRY" title embossed on the cover, and under that cover instructions such as fighting that killer first crush, fashioning a fake belly button piercing, and fending off the "mean girl" bully. With elementary and middle school kids in the house, both of these are great staples for the home reference shelf.

"Fangs A Lot!": Simms Taback's Great Big Book of Spacey Snakey Buggy Riddles by Katy Hall and Lisa Eisenbert

What animal has the most ticks?
A WATCHdog!

Early elementary kids love riddles, and with those reigning royals of riddledom, Katy Hall and Lisa Eisenberg, as the riddlemeisters and two-time Caldecott artist Simms Taback responsible for the illustrious illustrations, Simms Taback's Great Big Book of Spacey, Snakey, Buggy Riddles (Viking, 2008) can't help but be a wild and woolly winner with the giggly set.

What do bugs have that no other animal has?

Baby buggies!

Hall and Eisenberg limit themselves here to riddles about space, snakes, and bugs, but for these jolly jokesters, that is no limitation. Martians, anacondas, queen bees, spiders--they've got a joke for all of them.

What do spiders like with their hamburgers?

French flies!

Simms Taback's comic flair and strong use of color contrast works perfectly with the format of one riddle per page. Making frequent use of his trademark black backgrounds, he uses strong lines and glowing colors which make his silly characters seem almost three dimensional.

Why shouldn't you grab a snake's tail?

It's only his tail, but it could be your END!

But it's okay to grab Simms Taback's Great Big Book of Spacey, Snakey, Buggy Riddles, a comical collaboration between two riddlers and one illustrator who are all at the top of their game.