MotherReader

I'm falling a little bit in love with National Geographic for their books for kids. I've waxed poetic about the Book of Animal Poetry, and now I'm gigging over their Just Jokes series. The books were an easy hit in booktalking with a couple of knock-knock jokes for the school kids. I took them for a test drive at home, and my second grader niece could comfortably read many of the jokes without help. While she didn't always get the jokes without explanation, she enjoyed telling them.

National Geographic Kids Just Joking books are full of tongue twisters and funny photos along with knock-knocks and question jokes. ("Why do hens lay eggs? Because they break if they drop them.") But they've also brought something very new to the joke book genre: quality. Most of the joke books in our library are cheap paperbacks stuffed with jokes and one-liners only broken up with the occasional dumb illustration. The Just Joking series (the fourth book will be out in October) are hardback books with heavy paper, full-color photos, and attractive design elements. Variety in the page layout keeps visual interest while packing in as many as five jokes/twisters on a page. But interspersed with the joke-heavy pages, are two page spreads featuring one fabulous photo of animal with one highlighted joke and a fact about that animal. So with quality construction, engaging design, great photography, AND jokes, these books would make a fantastic addition to any library - public, classroom, or personal.

Nonfiction Monday is hosted today by Abby the Librarian.