Publisher's Synopsis
"My job is to make kids laugh."
This is how storyteller, librarian, and all-around jokester Rob Reid opens his delightful new book, Something Funny Happened at the Library. Wouldn't it be great if kids came home from the library holding their sides, eager to pass on the funny things they heard in the library that day? According to Reid, getting the attention of young people is to make them laugh. From easy-to-win-over preschoolers to unimpressed teens, this book will serve as your personal humor coach for even the toughest audiences out there.
Being funny can be intimidating, but with tricks of the trade on how to warm up an audience, choose age-appropriate material, use facial and vocal expressions to lure them in, and select props, you're on your way to the comedy club. Young children won't be able to hold in their giggles after such programs as "The World's Worst Ice Cream Store," and intermediate age school kids will love to take part in book theme parties in honor of Captain Underpants or such special celebrations as "Boo Ha Ha." Even those middle and high school students, once convinced to participate in "Comedy Club" (a program that combines reading and "stand-up") or "Spoonerisms" (a wordplay game), will be rolling in the aisles. To enrich all of these programs, Reid also features the funniest ideas for readers' theater, how to host a lively library tour, and even rap songs that extol the virtues of reading and the library!
An annotated bibliography lists more than 300 of the funniest books available, sorted by category and age, including picture books, fractured fairy tales, folklore, and the funniest children's authors and illustrators. A complete resource for getting children and young adults snickering and having fun in the stacks with innovative programming that uses humor, Something Funny helps you to connect with children and young adults and, along the way, make the library the hippest place in town!
