Selection Process

Allyson Bogie:

To select my books, I looked at a few sources. First, I looked over the YALSA laugh out loud list for middle schoolers. I cross-checked that list with the Newbery award books, and selected a few that were on both lists. I also talked with the children and teen librarian at my local library, and he gave me some insight on the genre. He suggested that what’s funny changes, so the books that are purely humorous may not be as timeless. He also helped me to think about the genre in a different way, which is that a book can deal with serious topics in a humorous way, and thus fit into the humor genre.

Rebecca Munoa:

I used a few different methods to choose books for the humor list. Not being very familiar with the genre, and not having too much experience working with tweens, I wrote down some titles that were mentioned in the first couple of readings from Naked Reading. I narrowed the list by checking out reviews on Amazon.com and awards listed on the Scholastic website, and wikipedia.com. Some I chose because I remember reading them as a kid and they’ve been continuously in print, or because I wanted to have a variety of selections as far as appeal to boys and girls. Lastly, I chose Superfudge because as a group we decided the list had to include a Judy Blume book, and the Fudge books are classics!

Lynde Roberts:

There really wasn't any method to the madness. I tried to think of books I've been wanting to read, Diary of Wimpy Kid and got those. Then I looked at a list that recently came over the Yalsa-bk list. I read some of those but although they were funny, they weren't "classics" so I just used them for the digital record. I tried some Newbery books that also weren't terribly funny. I remembered Part-time Indian and got that one. I looked for some poetry because there is a lot of funny poems for kids that weren't being represented. I thought of books when I was younger and had to include a Roald Dahl and make sure Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume were represented because they really are classics. My daughter recommended Chocolate Fever because it was short (1 disc!) and truly funny especially for a younger tween. It is old but still funny and clean not obnoxious like some other humor books with booger jokes etc.

Ashley Trigg:

I looked at book lists that were at my local library and then looked at the reviews I could find on the King Library site. I chose books that had good reviews and that I thought would be interesting to read. The only problem I had was finding some of the titles and reviews for them. Other than that it was pretty easy to chose book that were interesting and funny.