MAD

I bought this for my 5 yr old today. Extremely impressed. Love the introduction to the parts of speech, practice in writing, following directions, and beginning reading this encourages. I remember Mad Libs as a kid and was happy to find a jr. version. I was happy with the way they set it up - they use a symbol for each part of speech and have a list of words under each. You cross off a word when you use it, so you don't use it more than once. I only have one complaint. The miscellaneous category includes nouns and 'nouns' is considered a separate category. That kinda throws part of the education out the window. Still worth buying and fun.

This is a great fast moving book. It grabs your attention in thefirst paragraph at the bus stop. Bo & Mzzz Mad, written by Sid Fleischman, is set in a ghost town called Queen of Sheba in the California desert. The town is occupied by three of his only known living relatives running the Queen of Sheba Hotel. The main character, Bo Gamage, runs away after his father dies to avoid going to a foster home and ends up in this remote,barren desert town, Queen of Sheba. As soon as Bo arrives he meets the relatives. He takes an instant dislike to his 13 year old cousin Mad (Madeline). He really likes Aunt Juna, and feels unwelcomed by Charlie, Mad's grandpa. Not only does he have to deal with strange relatives on his arrival but his stay turns adventurous because of a couple on a crime spree. This book is very descriptive, fast moving, easy to read,and engaging. It shows the importance of family and how they are there if you need them.

"The Brothers Mad" is a 50th anniversary edition of the 5th "Mad" paperback collection. The title is a takeoff on the Yul Brynner movie "The Brothers Karamazov," which has been largely forgotten (although it was on cable the other day as I was flipping around). Anyhow, this little tidbit explains why one of the four heads of Alfred E. Newman on the cover is bald. Then again, this volume, which was published in 2002 was first published in 1958 and reprinted "Mad" strips from 1953-1955 (which is a sly way of pointing out it is really a 44th anniversary edition of the original reprinted volume). Of course, this all explains why the panels are mostly present sideways.

Included within this pages are "Black and Blue Hawks!" the Harvey Kurtzman/Wallace Wood lampoon of Will Eisner's "Blackhawk," a Jack Davis drawn parody of "The Dave Garrowunway Show," Robert Price's "How to Get into the Army," and the Kurtzman/Bill Elder take off of Shermlock Shomes." However, my favorite is probably "Alice in Wonderland," another Kurtzman/Davis collaboration, that takes on both of Lewis Carroll's famous novels and incorporates some of John Tennils' original drawings. I also enjoy the comic book parodies, such as "Woman Wonder!" and the five daily strips including "Popcorn" and "Manduck the Magician" that close the collection.

Pretty much everything that is found within these pages can be found in better formats with regards to size and color, but there is something to be said for the quaintness of the old style way of William M. Gaines trying to make money off of the old "Mad" stories. "The Brothers Mad" is certainly a representative sampling of what the comic book was putting out under Kurtzman's leadership (remember, it did not become a magazine for several years, by which time Al Feldstein was at the helm) and Grant Geissman's introduction puts the collection in hysterical, um, I mean, historical perspective.

"You'll roll on the floor laughing" "A hilarious masterpiece" "The best ever!!" "Alfred E. Neuman is back in action" I would also reccomend "About the Sixties" by the editors of mad magazine.

ok, i admit it. Specifics about this book escape me. But what i do clearly remember is that i read it when i was first stationed in Okinawa Japan with the Marine Corps, and what a thought-changing book it was.

It's portrayal of the Japanese was dead on. While I may not be able to quote chapter and verse, it was well worth the time spent. In fact, i just purchased it last weekend (early Feb) and am diving into it this weekend.

This instructional series is a teacher's dream come true. Short, concise lessons geared for the older child who has difficutly with reading. "Memory chips" serve as flash cards for this controlled vocabulary reading series. Supplemental softcover a plus. Check out ..first time....second time...etc. They're great for LD kids!

Light-hearted, easy flowing romance. Almost an "ugly ducking" tale. An actress puts on weight for a part, and is hurt by the saractic comments made by young financier acting quite full-of-himself. She changes appearance, loses the pounds she gained for the part, and then decides to seek a little payback....

"Endangered MAD" is the sixty-five paper back collection put out by the usual gang of idiots at the magazine that weaned the youth of America on a steady diet of low caliber satirical humor. This one really seems like an oversized issue of "MAD" Magazine, following the standard format of beginning with a movie satire, in this case the Dino De Laurentiis remake of "King King," now rechristened as "King Korn" (Written by Dick De Bartolo and Drawn by Harry North), and ends with a take off of "One Day at a Time," now "One Dame at a Time," with Larry Siegel doing the scripting and Angelo Torres the artwork. As you can tell just from those bookends, we are talking about the 1970s as the focal point for this collection of humor.

Of course, you do not care about this because all you want to know is whether or not your favorites from the aforementioned usual gang of idiots are to be found within the pages of "The Endangered MAD." Don Martin does a nice coda to "King Korn" with "One Nigh on Skull Island" and a couple of other pieces, Dave Berg does "The Lighter Side of...Consumers" and then "Health Nuts," and artist Jack Davis teams up with writer Tom Koch to provide "A Little Kid's Guide to Understanding the News" that helps define things like the difference between a recession and a depression. Also particularly appropriate for this election year is a look back at "MAD's Election-Year Mother Goose," courtesy of writer Frank Jacobs and artist Paul Coker, Jr., of which "Tweedledum and Tweedledee" is probably the most on target; they also do a choice bit on "More American Jokes They're Telling in Poland." Sergio Aragones takes "A Mad Look at Movie Making," and of the two efforts from writer Frank Jacobs and artist Al Jafee the better is "The Neuman Book of World Records...that led to lesser-known follow-up world records."

Actually the movie and television parodies, which are usually the chief attraction in your average issue of "MAD" magazine, are the weakest part of this collection. But then everything in between is pretty good so on balance this has to be an above average "MAD" collection. Yes, for some of these pieces you have to read the book sideways, but that is a small price to pay for low-grade humor like this. Besides, you have to get a kick out of the final panel of as "King Korn" when the character based on Jessica Lange declares she never wants anything to do with Show Business again and the character based on Jeff Bridges assures her, "Honey...after your performance in this movie...I don't think you have to worry!" Do you think that after she won her Oscar that local girl Jessica Lange (hometown Cloquet, Minnesota) ever took out an old issue of her first appearance in "MAD" Magazine and had a good laugh? I sure like to think so.

I liked this book because it was scary. R.L. Stine writes excellent books. I encourage you to read more of his books. Like... Ghost Beach an excellent book it was my favorite so far. I am in the middle of Vampire Breath right now.

I really liked grab bag mad libs. It was really funny and had lots of new hillarious stuff in it. It is definately worth it.