View source for Monkeyfarts: Wacky Jokes Every Kid Should Know by David Borgenicht

{{infobox1
|title=Monkeyfarts: Wacky Jokes Every Kid Should Know
|author=David Borgenicht
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=Confident Readers
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1594746055
|pages=96
|publisher=Quirk Books
|date=October 2012
|summary=Perfect for your young budding comedians, as long as you don't mind listening to a variety of fart jokes!
|cover=1594746052
|aznuk=1594746052
|aznus=1594746052
}}
Do your children like telling jokes?  My daughter loves jokes.  The trouble is, she makes hers up and, sadly, they're not very funny!  She's five years old and she understands the construction of jokes, especially knock knock jokes, but when it comes to finding the funny punch line...well, it's not her forte!  So, when this book arrived she was keen to take a look.

There's a great variety of jokes in the book, with everything from traditional 'why did the chicken cross the road' jokes through to brand new jokes about Harry Potter, which I enjoyed.  I liked that there are both short question and answer jokes as well as slightly longer story jokes.  That means it works well for younger children who will learn a 2 line joke very quickly, as well as older ones who'll go off and learn a whole paragraph.  The font varies throughout with some in large text and others much smaller, so as you flick through some jokes jump out at you straight away and it's easy to just dip in and out of the book as you wish, or to read it straight through too.

There are illustrations too, all in orange, black and white.  They're cartoon-style and help to break up the jokes.  One I particularly liked shows a picture of a little girl with a pea in one nostril, a grape in the other and a string bean in her ear.  The accompanying joke obviously tells of her going to the doctor to say ''I don't feel good'' and the doctor replies ''Well, you're obviously not eating right!''  I liked that joke so much I was willing to overlook the little girl saying she didn't ''feel good'' instead of 'feel well'!

Although it does have jokes relating to farts and poo, it isn't horribly rude and of course those are the sort of jokes that make some children split their sides laughing!  If you're not keen on this sort of humour then it's best avoided since my five year old daughter has, since the book arrived, told me the ''what's invisible and smells like bananas'' joke every day.  (The answer is ''monkeyfarts'' of course!)  My only issue with the book was all the Americanisms.  There was the aforementioned feel good/feel well issue but also some other vocabulary that caused issues.  It takes time to explain some jokes to a five year old anyway, but to then have to explain what a 'diner' is too...well, the joke is no longer funny!  I didn't feel it was annoying enough to stop me wanting to read the book, but it's worth knowing about in advance.

I think this book would work well with all primary aged kids.  My daughter's in Year One and is able to read a lot of the short jokes herself, though I think it's probably best for those around seven or older.

For something a bit more factual relating to farts try [[Why is Snot Green? by Glenn Murphy]].  Adults might enjoy [[Quick and Quirky: Short Stories with Quips! by Fred Onymouse and Ann Onymouse]].

{{amazontext|amazon=1594746052}}
{{amazonUStext|amazon=1594746052}}

{{commenthead}}