Knuckleheads

Those knuckleheads in in the White House have nothing to do with this zany picture book by Joan Houlb. So, instead of dwelling on how the economy is fundamentally NOT OK, I read Knuckleheads to my wee ones. And chortled and smirked at its icky silliness.

The digitally rendered illustrations by Michael Slack make these improvised classics, Handsel & Gretel, Handerella, Thumbelina, and Nose White absolutely hilarious. (Then again BeetleJuice is one of my favorite movies.) Yes, it's a bit weird that these characters are hand or feet heads with bodies... Right! Knuckleheads! But that is exactly why this book is so much fun. It reads like a comic book with text bubbles for many of the puns. For example, Handerella's wicked stepsisters are feet and they say, "This is one toe-tapping sock hop. Love that sole music!" "Yeah, and that Prints is no heel. He's totally cute-icle! "

I really like Nose White. She's some kind of PJ Harvey rocker chick that's all Schnoz. The jealous witch wanted her singing career ruined so she gave Nose White a bunch of dandelions. Nose White was allergic and got stopped up. Along came the handsome prince (another Schnoz) who gave her a handkerchief. She blew so hard..."She and the prince wound up on an island somewhere on the Finger Lakes."

If you visit the Chronicle Books website HERE you will find an animated preview of the book as well as some of the inside pages. Knuckleheads will be available in October, just in time for holiday sleep-overs! I was going to end this post with a couple of political Knuckleheads, but decided the Three Stooges were the best Knuckleheads ever.

BUT..... post post, I have to add this link to Becky's Blog on Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Mostly True Stories by Jon Scieszka about growing up Scieszka. Who's the best Knucklehead now!!