Knucklehead

Jon Scieszka
Viking Juvenile (2008)
ISBN 9780670011384
Reviewed by Simon Smith (age 9) for Reader Views (10/08)

The “Knucklehead” was very naughty with some crazy tricks.  The front of the book makes it look like a comic book but it’s really not. It’s a chapter book with short chapters and some photos. Jon is a naughty kid who is forever going outdoors or playing tricks on his four younger brothers. This is the story of the author and the funny things that happened when he was a kid.

Once in Sunday School Jon had to write down all of the curse words he knew and show them to the teacher for an assignment. Jon said that the universe stopped when the teacher read the list. She gave him the evil eye, but fortunately, since it was an assignment to write down the curse words, he got away with it.

Another time, when Jon saw this really cool ad that said one-thousand toy soldiers in a footlocker, he bought them all immediately.  When they came, he saw that all of the soldiers were no thicker than a dime. He angrily shoved all of the useless soldiers back in the chest.  Then the youngest brother Jeff came along and when he asked what it was, Jon showed him the ad and told him that this was one-thousand soldiers in a footlocker and that he could buy it from him for one-dollar and fifty-cents.

His writing is pretty good as writing goes and from the way this is read, it sounds like this information might have been taken from his journal. This book is for people who like sneaky, naughty stories and is probably best for kids, ages seven and up.  If you liked “Skinky Cheeseman” and “Other Fairly Stupid Tales,” also written by this author, then you’ll really like this book, “Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka.”

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