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Based on my consumption of way too many teen comedies, it’s my understanding that playing pranks on people is a mainstay of American adolescence. Heck, if the popularity of MTV’s Punk’d is any indication, some people never outgrow the whole prank thing. Well, I guess I wasn’t your typical teenager because I can’t remember playing jokes on anyone, unless you count sneaking up on my family members to startle them. My senior year of high school my classmates tried to think of an epic prank to play on the faculty as a graduation gift, but, after bandying about some brilliant ideas, including removing all the rolly balls from the computer mice in the administration building, I don’t think we actually did anything.
Welcome to episode 7 of Happy Reading, a podcast that celebrates middle grade titles centered around a specific theme. I’m Sarah Threlkeld, an elementary school librarian, former middle school reading teacher, and self-described goody two shoes. It has been four weeks since I released the last episode of Happy Reading and I am beyond excited to be back in front of a microphone sharing some fantastic books with you. All of the titles featured in this episode are about the art of pulling pranks. This episode also includes an interview with the author of one of the books I spotlight, which is pretty darn cool. So, put on some camouflage, track down a pile of fake doggy doo, and get ready to meet some very crafty characters.
When I was in elementary school I could not get enough of Roald Dahl’s books. I spent many hours under our ping pong table forcing my friends to listen to me read Fantastic Mr. Fox and James and the Giant Peach (gee, are you shocked I became a librarian?) and I even read The Witches to my mom as we drove around town in her new car before the stereo was installed. I don't remember reading The Twits to anyone as a kid, which is a shame because it is hysterical, and, at a mere 76 pages, you can zip through it in an hour or two.
As the title promises, the stars of the story are two silly, foolish people who spend their time playing cruel jokes on each other and torturing their poor pet monkeys. They happen to be married and it is obvious from the start that they abhor one another, which is depressing, but also makes for some side-splittingly funny scenarios. Mr. Twit is an exceptionally hairy man who bathes infrequently and has very poor table manners and Mrs. Twit is a wretched woman whose ugly thoughts have, over time, transformed her into an outwardly hideous person. From glass eyes in the bottom of mugs to wriggly spaghetti that isn’t what it seems, Mr. and Mrs. Twit hold nothing back when it comes to tricking one another. Will this despicable couple ever learn their lesson and face the consequences of their actions or will they continue pranking each other until they are old and gray? And what about those poor monkeys? You’ll have to read The Twits to find out, but here’s a little taste to tide you over until you can track down a copy (and perhaps read it while lounging beneath a ping pong table).
Excerpt - pages 13-15
Intentionally embarrassing someone has never appealed to me (unless that someone is my older brother), which is probably why I enjoyed the pranks played by the kids in Pickle: The (Formerly) Anonymous Club of Fountain Point Middle School by Kim Baker. Their goal is never to harm or mortify classmates or school faculty, but rather to make people smile and relieve some of the anxiety that is inevitable in middle school. It all starts when Ben spots an ad in the online classifieds from Pizza Pete offering up all of the balls from their ball pit for free to anyone willing to cart them all away. Ben’s afternoon is wide open, so he figures he’ll take the balls off of Pete’s hands, despite having absolutely no idea what he’ll do with them. When his dad gets home and notices the stench being emitted from the hundreds of dirty, plastic balls, he tells Ben to get rid of them immediately. Clearly, the only reasonable thing to do is haul every last ball to school and dump them through a window into your homeroom, right? The reaction the next day from his classmates is priceless and has Ben itching to plan another prank. Before he knows it, a handful of other kids want to join in on the fun and the Pickle-Making Club is born, which is really a cover for the shenanigans being orchestrated in the science lab after school. The pranks quickly escalate, becoming bigger and riskier, until someone in the club goes a little too far and jeopardizes everything. Pickle is a fast-paced story about friendship and taking risks that will make you laugh out loud and perhaps inspire you to create some harmless mischief of your own. Here’s what happens after Ben’s ball prank.
excerpt - pages 21-22
“Somewhere in the distance, a cow mooed.”
It's been three years since my husband and I read The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett and Jory John out loud to each other and I still giggle when I hear that line, which repeats throughout the book. In fact, when I told my husband I was including The Terrible Two in this episode, he gleefully hollered “Somewhere in the distance, a cow mooed!” Yeah, we’re big dorks.
Miles Murphy just moved to Yawnee Valley, a town known for an abundance of cows, and he is less than thrilled by his new surroundings. At his old school he was the King of Pranks, but at Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy he’s just the new kid who gets paired up with Niles Sparks, the principal’s favorite student, a brown-nosing goody-goody whom Miles suspects practices his handshake when he’s all by himself in his bedroom. Things are not off to a good start. To make matters worse, somebody at the school set up an elaborate prank on the first day back that involves Principal Barkin’s car and hundreds of dirty feet. How in the world can Miles compete?
The Terrible Two is fast-paced and hysterical, which makes it the perfect read aloud for 4th through 6th grades. Plus, there are illustrations on almost every page that elevate the story and bring the characters to life. Thankfully, there is a sequel and a third book is scheduled to be released any day now, so your funny bone will be satisfied for quite awhile. Here’s an excerpt from chapter eight that is guaranteed to have you in stitches:
Excerpt - pages 29-31
What happens when a scientist and an artist join forces? In Jacqueline Davies’ Nothing But Trouble it is nothing but remarkable. I could not put this book down and gave it a 5-star review on Goodreads, which is pretty rare for me. The author expertly weaves together an entertaining and thought-provoking story about Dadaism, explosions, neglectful parents, a tightly wound principal with no sense of humor, the wonders of physics, a decrepit middle school slated for demolition, an army of mice, a teacher on the verge of retirement who is more than she seems, and two sixth graders who are having a blast planning elaborate pranks that delight their fellow classmates and end up inspiring an entire community to take pride in their small town and celebrate that which makes it great. The pranks are actually hacks, a distinction Maddie, the narrator, takes very seriously. As she explains to Lena, the new girl at Oda M Middle School, “Hacking means pulling off a prank with style. Something that requires intelligence and technical know-how and daring. Look: a prank is when you flatten someone’s car tires. Ha-ha. A hack is when you disassemble, transport, and then reassemble a full-sized police car on the dome of a building, one hundred and fifty feet in the air. My dad did that when he was at MIT. He was a hacker. Better than anybody. Ever” (60). The two girls may not pull off a hack of that magnitude, but they do manage to flood the hallways with tennis balls, have thousands of ping pong balls rain down from the sky, and spice up an otherwise dreadful P.E. class with some colorful chemical reactions. Oh, and they also happen to start a bit of a revolution. Here’s how it all begins.
Excerpt - pages 14-15
The last weekend in February I attended a nErDCamp up north where I had an opportunity to rub elbows with some incredible authors, including Kim Baker, who wrote Pickle. She was kind enough to sit down with me for a few minutes to chat about her book and read an excerpt from one of her favorite middle grade novels, Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt.
Interview with Kim Baker where she reads from Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
It’s no joke, dear listeners - this episode of Happy Reading is coming to a close. I hope you got a kick out of hearing about these hilarious middle grade titles and have been inspired to plan a hack or two of your own. If you know of any other books about pranks that I should add to my TBR pile, please let me know. As always, you can message me through my blog, happyrdng.blogspot.com, or track me down on Twitter under the handle @wordnerd153 or @happyrdng. I'll be tweeting about an opportunity to win a signed copy of Pickle, so keep an eye out for that, and thanks again to Kim Baker for being a guest on this episode. You can also find a transcript of every episode of this podcast at my website, along with links to each and every amazing book I recommend. If you enjoy Happy Reading and want to spread some middle grade book love, it would be incredible if you posted a review on iTunes. Now, I think I’ll take advantage of the fact that my husband and daughter aren’t home and dig into my stack of books for episode eight. Until next time fabulous bibliophiles, thanks so much for listening and happy reading!
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