jokes – Aussie Reviews

My First Book of Jokes illustrated by Mark Guthrie

What do you call a crocodile wearing a watch?

A tick-tockadile.

What do you call a crocodile wearing a watch?

A tick-tockadile.

My First Book of Jokes is, as the title suggests, a collection of simple jokes for the very young. Each short joke question is presented on the right hand page of an opening with the answer revealed on turning the page. Illustrations are full page and comic in style. Most are Australian animals although there is also a banana joke.

My First Book of Jokes is about the size of a class reader – larger than a board book, smaller than a picture book. Newly independent readers will enjoy testing the jokes on family and friends.

My First Book of Jokes, ill Mark Guthrie Scholastic Australia 2013 ISBN: 9781742837925

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

My Book of Jokes, illustrated by Bronwen Davies

Why didn’t the chicken cross the road?
Because it was chicken.

Why don’t teddy bears eat much?
Because they’re already stuffed.

My Book of Jokes is a small hardcover offering, featuring, as the title suggests, jokes. Each joke is asked on one page withe reader needing to turn the page to see the answer. The jokes are illustrated in bold digital illustrations with quirkily appealing characters. Whilst each joke and pair of illustrations is self contained, some images and characters reappear. For example a picture of a traffic jam includes the a garbage truck from an earlier joke and a chicken on the pavement.

The jokes are most likely to appeal to early independent readers, though the illustrations and format mean the book will also be appealing to younger children.

Good for a few laughs.

My Book of Jokes, illustrated by Bronwen Davies
Scholastic, 2012
ISBN 9781742831657

Available from good bookstores or online from Fishpond.

Best Ever Aussie Jokes

With jokes on a range of topics – there are chapters on sport, travel, school, animals and more – and of different types, including knock knock jokes, limericks, and silly book titles, there is plenty here to keep the child in your life laughing for ages.

What do you get when you touch an electric parrot?
A shockatoo
(Mitchell Johnson, Australian Cricketer)

What do you call a sewer that’s jammed with Aussie plumbers?
A bloked drain.
(Kate Ritchie, actress)

Which tree has teeth?
A gum tree.
(Manu Feildel, My Kitchen Rules)

There’s an old, oft-quoted adage which says “Laughter is the best medicine’, but did you also know that if you laugh 100 times a day it is the same amount of exercise as 15 minutes of rowing or jogging? SO you odn’t have to be sick to really benefit from a good laugh. Camp Quality is an organisation devoted to making people laugh – especially kids who are sick with cancer. Best Ever Aussie Jokesis the latest in their series of joke books published to help support their important work.

Well worth buying both to support kids living with cancer and to give yourself, and your children, a laugh.

Best Ever Aussie Jokes! (Camp Quality), illustrated by Louis Shea
Scholastic Australia, 2011
ISBN

Available in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond.

365 Awesome Aussie Jokes, by Camp Quality

What to you get when you cross a sheep with a kangaroo?
A woolly jumper.

365 Awesome Aussie Jokes is a collection of …365 Aussie jokes. There’s one for each day of the year. The first joke of the month is a celebrity joke, coming from writers, broadcasters and singers. There are knock-knocks, puns, Did-you-hear-abouts and many more. Each opening includes black and white illustrations while the border around pages reminds the reader to laugh (in case they forget…or the joke doesn’t tickle their fancy).

365 Awesome Aussie Jokes is put together by Camp Quality, an organisation that supports kids and families of kids with cancer. The collection lives the adage that ‘laughter is the best medicine’. The jokes are short and the font is large, allowing access to quite young readers. If the ‘reader’ is too young to decipher the text themselves, they have plenty to laugh with as the jokes are read to them. A foreword explains how this and preceding joke books came to be. Proceeds are used to fund Camp Quality programs. There are two forms in the back. One provides the opportunity to send in jokes, the other outlines how donations to Camp Quality may be made. Recommended for all jokesters.

365 Awesome Aussie Jokes, Camp Quality
Scholastic Australia 2010
ISBN: 9781741696103

Reviewed by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author www.clairesaxby.com

This book can be purchased in good bookstores or online at Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

The Best A Man Walks into a Bar Jokes, by Billy Brownless

A man walks into a bar…Ouch!

Everyone knows a man-walks-into-a-bar joke, whether it’s rip-roaringly funny, or plain lame or downright silly. This offerings bring together hundreds of such jokes, from well known old favourites, to lesser known ones – and again ranging from rip-roaringly funny to downright lame.

Compiled by football legend and television personality Billy Brownless and featuring photos of him in various bar room poses on the chapter divisions, this is a funny offering which will be enjoyed by footy lovers and can be read cover to cover or just dipped into.

The Best ‘A Man Walks Into a Bar’ Jokes, by Billy Brownless
Allen & Unwin, 2009

This book can be purchased online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

502 More Great Aussie Jokes

Did you hear about the optimistic kangaroo?
It hopped for the best.

Who would open the batting for the Aussie animal cricket team?
Wombat and numbat.

Where did the gum tree go for its holiday?
To the beech.

502 More Great Aussie Jokes is the fourth joke book produced by Scholastic Australia to support Camp Quality, a charity which assist children living with cancer.

Like previous offerings, this one is full of jokes, with some contributed by Aussie celebrities including Kate Richie, Matt Moran and Lote Tuqiri. Jokes are organised into categories including sport, animals, school, knock-knocks and more. Illustrations are comic style line drawings, provided by Louis Shea.

At just $9.99 rrp and, in support of such a good case, this is an offering well worth buying for a jokester in your life.

502 More Great Aussie Jokes
Scholastic Australia, 2009

This book can be purchased online from Fishpond.

501 Great Aussie Jokes

Q. What do you call a platypus trapped under a rock?
A. A flatypus.

Q. What’s green, sticky and smells like eucalyptus?
A. Koala spew.

This is the third joke book produced by Scholastic Australia in recent years to support Camp Quality. Following on from the success of Laugh Out Loud! and Laugh Even Louder, 501 Great Aussie Jokes is full of jokes which will have primary school aged readers laughing out loud. I tried some out on my almost fifteen year old son and even he managed a wry grin (he’s not easily impressed).

There are contributions from famous Australians including Kerri-Ann Kennerly, Steve Jacobs and Adam Cox, as well as cute and humorous black and white illustrations by Louis Shea.

With a cover price of $9.99 and royalties going to Camp Quality, this is a worthwhile purchase.

501 Great Aussie Jokes
Scholastic Australia, 2008

Laugh Even Louder!

Red monster: That cute girl over there just rolled her eyes at me!
Blue Monster: Well you’d better roll them back, she probably needs them.

A multicoloured target on the front cover of Laugh Even Louder includes as its bull’s eye a laughing child. Open the front cover and you’ll hear a child’s laughter. The first page is covered with the word ‘giggle’. There is no prize for guessing the intent of this title! This is a book full of jokes, some short, others longer. Contributions come from a wide variety of well-known Australians including Adam Hills, Ann James and Kostya Tszyu, and also from children all around the country. This is the second collection of jokes published to benefit Camp Quality, an organisation which supports children with cancer and their families. The first was Laugh Out Loud.

Laugh Even Louder includes jokes for all ages, from simple ‘knock-knocks’ to longer and more complex anecdotes. There is some theme grouping, and some grouping of contributors eg four well-known cricketers tell their jokes on the same opening, but mostly the jokes are a mixture, catering to a variety of tastes. The final page of Laugh Even Louder invites reader to enter their jokes on line for the chance of publication and to win great prizes. Travis Nixon’s winning joke for this collection is on page 19. There can never be too much laughter in the world, and when the book has the added benefit of helping those who perhaps most need to find something to laugh about, there is added reason to recommend it. Recommended for anyone who could use a laugh.

Laugh Even Louder, various authors, illustrator Bob Seal
Scholastic 2007
ISBN: 9781741690224

Big Book of Great Sporting Jokes, by David Boon

David Boon was a cricketer from 1984 to 1996. In that time he became one of the most popular cricketers to play the game. But now he’s here to share his quintessential collection of sports jokes.

Whether you are a would-be comedian, or just looking for a joke to lift your day, The Big Book of Great Sporting Jokes is likely to keep you amused and entertained for hours.

From those oldies but goodies to some terrific humorous yarns this book keeps you laughing to the very last page.

All in all a great, funny read that should amuse you for hours on end. For most adults this is a hilarious collection.

Big Book of Great Sporting Jokes, by David Boon
Harper Collins, 2007

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? by Camp Quality

Why DID the chicken cross the road?

So we all know that the chicken crossed the road, but just why did she do it? This little offering offers a variety of explanations for this conundrum. The police department don’t know why, but given some time alone with the chicken are sure they can find out. Grandpa thinks we shouldn’t be asking why – in his day if someone told you the chicken crossed the road, you just accepted it was true. There are also answers from George W. Bush, Jessica Simpson, Colonel Sanders and more.

A fundraiser for Camp Quality, this fun offering will appeal to adult readers just as much as children. Why not buy a copy and support the organisation that supports kids with cancer?

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? by Camp Quality
Scholastic Australia, 2006