GUYS WRITE FOR GUYS READ -- Jon Scieszka, editor

Viking -- hc
New York -- ©2005 -- 272pp
ISBN: 0-670-06007-0

Brief autobiographies about being a guy.

Forward -- Jon Scieszka
"The Truth About the World" -- lloyd Alexander
"My Maturity, in Flames" --M.T. Anderson
Daniel Adel
"Stone = Throw" -- Marc Aronson
"Superpatriot" -- Avi
"The Crossing" -- T.A. Barron
"Reading Can Be Dangerous" -- Tedd Arnold
"My Entire Football Career" -- David Bauer
"Only a Game" -- Edward Bloor
"Gondwanaland" -- Tony DiTerlizzi
"E, A Minor, B7" -- Bruce Brooks
"My Brilliant Invention" -- William G. Brozo
"A Real Guy" -- Michael Cart
"My Life of Crime" -- Peter Cherches
"Triplets" -- Timothy Basil Ering
"The Legend of Tripod" -- Eoin Colfer
"'O' Foods" -- Chris Crutcher
"What I'm Telling You Is the Truth" -- Terry Davis
"The Rules" -- Esquire
"Any Questions, Class?" -- Matt Groening
"Guide for Guys" -- Douglas Florian
"Why Books Are Dangerous" -- Neil Gaiman
Brett Helquist
"The Follower" -- Jack Gantos
"The Red Fire Engine" -- David Macaulay
"There Must Be a Mistake" -- Morris Gleitzman
"Thwacked" -- David Granger
"My Superpowers" -- Dan Greenburg
"My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad" -- Andy Griffiths
Adam McCauley
"Let's Go to the Videotape" -- Dan Gutman
"Boys, Beer, Barf, and Bonding" -- Bruce Hale
"Shooting the Breeze" -- Dave and Liam McKean
"Principals and Principles" -- Daniel Handler
"A Great, Big, Beautiful World" -- Will Hobbs
"My French Teacher Tried to Kill Me" -- Anthony Horowitz
"Learning How to Be a Boy" -- James Howe
"Lightning Man" -- Jarrett J. Krosoczka
"A Casualty of War" -- Brian Jacques
"Wrestling with Reading" -- Patrick Jones
Dav Pilkey
from On Writing -- Stephen King
"Pop" -- David Klass
"Guy Things" -- Gordon Korman
"Role-Playing and Discovery" -- Jerry Pinkney
"Busted" -- Erik P. Kraft
"Copies" -- David Lubar
"When All Bicycles Were Black" -- Vladimir Radunsky
"The Pellet in the Paint Can" -- Chris Lynch
"Unfinished Business" -- Joh Marsden
Sergio Ruzzier
"Daydreams" -- Walter Dean Myers
"Lucky Dave" -- Garth Nix
"Anything Can Happen" -- Kenneth Oppel
"No, David!" -- David Shannon
"Dead Body" -- Jerry Pallotta
"It All Began with Books" -- Christopher Paolini
from How Angel Peterson Got His Name -- Gary Paulsen
"The 1928 Packard" -- Richard Peck
"Lone * Ranger" -- Daniel Pinkwater
David Sheldon
"A Day at the Zoo" -- Jack Prelutsky
"Boys Are Big Experts" -- Jack Prelutsky
"Funny You Should Ask" from The Life of Reilly -- Rick Reilly
Peter Sis
"The Death of a Writer" -- David Rice
"Sweet Dreams" -- Steve Rushin
"Maybe Yeah, Maybe Nah" -- Rene Saldana, Jr.
"Bufos" -- Graham Salisbury
Lane Smith
"Brothers" -- Jon Scieszka
"ManGUYifesto -- Who We Are!" -- Darren Shan
"The Day I Threw the Trivia Bowl" -- Robert Siegel
"Bringing Up 'Saur Subjects" -- Rick Spears
"Roy G. Biv" -- Seymour Simon
"The Hammer and the Bullet" -- Arthur Slade
"The Masque of the Red Death" -- William Sleator
"Reading and Relating" -- Michael W. Smith
"The Dragon in the Big Glommy Castle" -- Mark Teague
"Bombs, Girls" -- Jerry Spinelli
"Conduct" -- Rick Telander
"The Fire Escape" -- Ned Vizzini
"My First Step to the White House" -- Chris Van Allsburg
"Give a Guy a Newspaper" -- Bill Vlasic
"Eat Dirt" -- Rich Wallace
"Training the Bear" -- Will Weaver
"Pals Forever: Me, Bobby Fisher, and the Hardy Boys" -- Jeffrey D. Wilhelm
"Aw, Nuts!" -- Mo Williams
"Puzzle Pieces" from The Lost Garden -- Laurence yep
"Heartbeat" -- David Yoo
"I Was Young in the Old Days" -- Paul O. Zelinsky



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This was a fun collection. There definitely is something in here for any/every boy. Some pieces seemed way too advanced for the average young boy (particularly Will Weaver's piece), and some were darned funny (in particular, Bruce Hale's).



There were a fair number of authors with which I was not familiar, and at least one glaring omission (in my mind) -- Bruce Coville.



Too many to address here individually, but over-all a book worth reading through, especially for every boy wondering what guys go through as they grow up.



Recommended.