Comments on: Jon Scieszka Courts Preteen Boys in ‘Knucklehead,’ a Memoir of Growing Up With Five Brothers in Michigan during the Baby Boom http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/jon-scieszka-courts-preteen-boys-in-%e2%80%98knucklehead%e2%80%99-a-memoir-of-growing-up-with-five-brothers-in-michigan-during-the-baby-boom/ Janice Harayda Reviews Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry for Adults and Children Sat, 25 May 2013 15:11:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/jon-scieszka-courts-preteen-boys-in-%e2%80%98knucklehead%e2%80%99-a-memoir-of-growing-up-with-five-brothers-in-michigan-during-the-baby-boom/#comment-7214 Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:35:05 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/?p=6738#comment-7214 Definitely a good read-aloud, and not just because it’s so amusing.

The chapters are so short that you could probably read most aloud in 5 or 10 minutes. So you don’t have the problem you sometimes do in books for older children: The chapters are longer, and it’s hard to stop in the middle of one (if a lot of action is going on.

]]> By: speedytexaslibrarian http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/jon-scieszka-courts-preteen-boys-in-%e2%80%98knucklehead%e2%80%99-a-memoir-of-growing-up-with-five-brothers-in-michigan-during-the-baby-boom/#comment-7213 Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:48:56 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/?p=6738#comment-7213 Oh yes, I remember the pagan babies! Perhaps some of Scieszka’s life experiences as told in this book are reflected in some of his other work. I have heard from friends with younger sons that this is a great read-aloud. I will be purchasing this for my library’s collection and hope to get around to reading it soon myself.

]]> By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/jon-scieszka-courts-preteen-boys-in-%e2%80%98knucklehead%e2%80%99-a-memoir-of-growing-up-with-five-brothers-in-michigan-during-the-baby-boom/#comment-7212 Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:54:01 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/?p=6738#comment-7212 Hi, Amanda,
I’d returned this book to the library by the time I got your comment, so I’m going from my notes on the book. But it basically focuses on his childhood and family and doesn’t even get so far as college. And I don’t recall any incidents that show an early talent for or interest in writing. Knucklehead also doesn’t have anecdotes about, say, sending off manuscripts and getting rejected (which you often find in writers’ memoirs).

Scieszka came to writing after a career in teaching, which may help to explain the lack of details about this. (Or maybe he’s planning another book …) But I think he has on his Web site something about how his teaching inspired him to become a writer. This book has a lot to interest anybody who went to Catholic schools during the baby boom. Remember those “pagan babies” campaigns where you raised money to convert a heathen child? Scieszka has a very amusing section on that one.
Jan
Jan

]]> By: speedytexaslibrarian http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/jon-scieszka-courts-preteen-boys-in-%e2%80%98knucklehead%e2%80%99-a-memoir-of-growing-up-with-five-brothers-in-michigan-during-the-baby-boom/#comment-7211 Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:52:19 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/?p=6738#comment-7211 Thanks for this review, Jan. I’ve got the book sitting in my TBR pile and I have thumbed through it. The photos bring back a lot of memories as I am the oldest of five in a Catholic family (and went to Catholic school), and I’m just a little younger than Scieszka. Can you tell me if there is anything in the book about how/why he became a writer?

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