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I have a string! When I was in high school, I went to summer camp at a Christian camp in the Santa Cruz mountains. The speaker they brought in that week to teach us started each session with "storytime" - when he would use powerpoint to tell a room full of teenagers a story from this picture book...and everyone loved it! The Hocky sense of humor appeals to a broad age range.
Kinda twisted humor for a children's picture book! I don't know whether children would get it; let's just say that I read it with a couple of parent volunteers in the school library and we were in stitches! It's a little "Dick and Jane" with a liberal dose of the real world. I guess you could say that it teaches you to have a positive attitude in the end.
This book is so special, I just had to create a whole new shelf for it.We passed through Niantic today, had lots of store credit to burn at the Book Barn, and two small boys eating too many free donuts (the small "chocolate" coated ones that taste like wax). It was time to go, but I spotted this, vaguely remembered reading it in the 90s and finding it funny, grabbed it and got us out of there. Later at home, with the boys asleep, I had the chance to look over my purchases more leisurely and rere...
This is the funniest little kids book. I laugh so hard everytime I read it.
"Grandma smells like flowers. Lots and lots of flowers.""Toys? What is toys?"
Meet the Hocky Family! There are 6 of them in all - Mr, Mrs, Henry, Holly, Baby, and Newton. They are a pretty normal family with chores to do and trips to the zoo and toys to play with. And even when things go wrong in this family, everyone manages to stay happy!I found this book oddly amusing, but I don't think I could ever read it to a child. The humor seems a little grown-up for most young children. They might find parts of it funny, but some parts are just too morbid or sophisticated to ent...
I love this book so much, I can't believe I haven't reviewed it until now. Making up for that oversight right now. I have owned this book since 1993, when I was unmarried and not even thinking about having kids or becoming a children's librarian. I bought several copies of this book and gave them out to my adult friends as gifts. About half of my friends thought the book was great; the other half just thought I was really weird. I love every little vignette in this book, but my absolute favorite...
Funny, but not as funny as I was led to believe. I had high expectations. It has some good moments. This is like Dick and Jane, but snarky.Excerpt:Chores: Quiz #1Today was Holly's day to do the laundry. See if you can match the pocket items before and after the dryer. [before items include a crayon, dime, penny, army figure, piece of candy, ticket, piece of gum] [after items include a penny, a dime, and several indistinct blackish blobs]
Not what I expected, but I enjoyed the laughs. Text-wise, this could go for an early reader. That age may or may not get the humor, depending on if they take time to think of what they read as well as look at the illustrations. Enjoyable. I still think a good choice for "a family book" to have out for "Things You Love" storytime, even if I don't read it.
Seems to me parody is most successful when the audience knows the object being parodied. My students know their early readers so this book is hilarious for them.
Hands down, this is one of the best children's books I have ever read. I love how Lane Smith has illustrated and how delightfully funny and sweet it is. This is a totally awesome book, check it out today.
This is a sarcastic book in the style of Dick and Jane. The illustrations are lushly retro, and the story is quite clever. But young children will not understand the humour, so I wouldn't say it is appropriate to read aloud to a child, unless you're willing to stop and explain each joke. It's definitely aimed at adults, probably especially those who had to toil through Dick and Jane-style readers when they were young. Cute, but not worth it.
ok, so maybe this is the best book i've ever read.
Repetitive, but half-way through I realized it's all jokes. They're not the funniest jokes in the world but they're pitched at adults more than kids, and I was in the right mood for it. Sample joke: kid is responsible for ants, they want 'air', kid opens the 'window' letting the ants out, ruins the new kitchen, which is presented as a learn-to-read type deal-- "SEE the new kitchen. SHINY. NEW. SEE it" etc etc with ants crawling everywhere. I guess you had to be there
Not really for kids AND that's the best part! A hilariously wacky, sarcastic take on old fashioned primers. I bought this with the notion of reading it to my kids when they were old enough to appreciate it. Found it hiding on the bookshelf the other day. The 8th grader finds it as funny as I do! Joy!
My friend Jane Tesh turned me on to the Hocky family years ago. Recently found my copy and laughed as hard as the first time when I read and enjoyed the use of deceptively simple illustration crossed with deadpan dialogue. Funny for ALL ages. I'll be sharing it with my grandson (he's five going on six) next time he comes to visit. Long live Cousin Stinky!
This book changed the way I speak English.Find it. Read it out loud to as many people as will let you. Take public transportation and read it to commuters. It is my favorite kids book ever.
This is one of those books you just have to read to understand the experience. This story isn't necessarily a story, but more like a series of different vignettes on each page. Each vignette is either interactive in some way or asks kids to make some inferences or ask questions of what's going on in the scene. It's one of those books that teachers can read aloud and undoubtedly kids will be picking the book back up to dig deeper into the subtler aspects of the story and illustrations.
I read this book. Did you read this book? It made me very happy.
this made me snort and have to cross my legs from not peeing laughing, maybe it was just the right moment- nope it was that funny.