Knucklehead

Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka

By: Jon Scieszka

Narrated by: Jon Scieszka

Length: 1 hr and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

How did Jon Scieszka get so funny, anyway? Growing up as one of six brothers was a good start, but that was just the beginning. Throw in Catholic school, lots of comic books, lazy summers at the lake with time to kill, babysitting misadventures, TV shows, jokes told at family dinner, and the result is Knucklehead. Part memoir, part scrapbook, this hilarious trip down memory lane provides a unique glimpse into the formation of a creative mind and a free spirit.

©Jon Scieszka 2008 (P)Listening Library 2018

Critic reviews

"Just try to keep kids away from this collection. Inspired book design makes the volume look like an old-school comic. The front cover features an elementary-aged Scieszka popping up out of a military tank, surrounded by explosions and bombers, while the back advertises a 'Treasure Chest of Fun' and displays chapter titles and excerpts along with nostalgic graphics. Scieszka answers the oft-asked question, 'Where do you get your ideas?' with a slew of childhood anecdotes and his family's escapades that have given him plenty of material from which to draw. Born in 1954, the second of six brothers, he writes about Catholic and military schools, buying gifts, chores, and hand-me-downs-all familiar experiences related with a specific Scieszka twist. His mother, a nurse, insisted that her sons use proper terms for anatomy ('rectum' rather than 'butt') and bodily functions ('urinate' rather than 'pee'), making way for several laugh-out-loud moments. Some stories are just amiably funny, such as wearing recycled Halloween costumes, while others help readers understand more about how the author developed his unique sense of humor. Although it includes the car trip story from Guys Write for Guys Read (Viking, 2005), Knucklehead is aimed at a younger audience. Family photographs and other period illustrations appear throughout. Entertaining and fast-moving, silly and sweet, this homage to family life is not to be missed." (School Library Journal)

"Offering an answer to the perennial query about where his ideas come from, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature looks back to his early 1960s youth. Fans will not be surprised to learn that, except for his mother (a nurse, fortunately) he grew up in an all-male household: father, five brothers and 'even our dogs and cats and fish.' The resulting memories include group pukes in the back seat, slipping toy soldiers into the Christmas creche, playing neighborhood games like 'Slaughterball' and idyllic summer expeditions into the woods around his grandparents' cottage - not to mention the pleasures of random dips into the household children's encyclopedia and spurning 'those weirdos Dick and Jane"' to 'find out more about real things like dogs in cars and cats in hats.' Illustrated with truly dorky school-yearbook photos and family snapshots, this account of a thoroughly normal childhood doesn't match Gary Paulsen's memoirs for hilarity or Tomie DePaola's for cultural insight, but it will draw chuckles of amusement from middle-graders (particularly less eager readers) and of recognition from their parents and grandparents." (Kirkus Reviews) 

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Really Good

This is an amazing book. I always thought I would never use an audible book ,but it is soo much better than reading. You get to lie down and you don’t always have to be in a bright room. I can lay down and listen it is so nice.

It was goated because of the characters

It was goated because of all the characters in this story and the funniest thing ever