Summary
Summary
A body on the tracks
A teenage terrorist
A mysterious wish-granting machine
The world's worst private detective
The second volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading is chock-full of mystery, intrigue, and nefarious activity. Featuring some of the best writers around, and compiled by certified guy Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: Thriller is a pulse-pounding collection of brand-new short stories, each one guaranteed to keep you riveted until the final page.
Author Notes
Jon Scieszka was born September 8, 1954 in Flint , Michigan. After he graduated from Culver Military Academy where he was a Lieutenant, he studied to be a doctor at Albion College. He changed career directions and attended Columbia University where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1980. Before he became a full time writer, Scieszka was a lifeguard, painted factories, houses, and apartments and also wrote for magazines. He taught elementary school in New York for ten years as a 1st grade assistant, a 2nd grade homeroom teacher, and a computer, math, science and history teacher in 3rd - 8th grade.
He decided to take off a year from teaching in order to work with Lane Smith, an illustrator, to develop ideas for children's books. His book, The Stinky Cheese Man received the 1994 Rhode Island Children's Book Award. Scieszka's Math Curse, illustrated by Lane Smith, was an American Library Association Notable Book in 1996; a Blue Ribbon Book from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books in 1995; and a Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Book in 1995. The Stinky Cheese Man received Georgia's 1997 Children's Choice Award and Wisconsin's The Golden Archer Award. Math Curse received Maine's Student Book Award, The Texas Bluebonnet Award and New Hampshire's The Great Stone Face Book Award in 1997. He was appointed the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Library of Congress in 2008. In 2014 his title, Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor made The New York Times Best Seller List. Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger made the list in 2015.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Horn Book Review
Scieszka collects ten thrilling boy-aimed stories (and one comic) from well-known authors including M. T. Anderson, Walter Dean Myers, Margaret Peterson Haddix, and Anthony Horowitz. Subjects encompass ghosts and criminals, supernatural monsters and Somali pirates. All of the protagonists star in suspenseful narratives that will keep readers turning pages. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
This second collection in the Guys Read series packs a dizzying punch.Scieszka has gathered 10 thrilling stories from stellar writers. There are ghost stories, a deeply touching tale of a wish-granting machine and one about monsters that live in storm drains. "Pirate," by Walter Dean Myers, is extraordinary and so unmatched in content that it's an anomaly here. His tale diverges from the creepy hijinks of the others, diving into chillingly dark waters. Abdullah comes from long line of Somali fishermen. The big foreign ships have depleted the fish, and the waters have been polluted by their oil spills. In spare, precise language, Abdullah describes how he and his family have decided to fight back. Armed with AK-47s, Abdullah and a few others hijack a yacht. The confusion and violence that ensues, as Abdullah is charged with guarding a teenage girl, is heartbreaking, terrifying and unshakable. More on par with the rest of the collection, Patrick Carman's "Ghost Vision" delves into the supernatural. Kyle discovers a stack of 1970s comics and orders a pair of glasses from an ad in the back that will allow him to see ghosts. They arrive with a warning never put them on outside his roomthere are some things you just don't want to see. Add stories by M.T. Anderson, Matt de la Pea, Jennifer Choldenko and others for a solid collection.This anthology is brimming with choice stuff for guys who appreciate the uncanny, the uncouth and the un-put-down-able.(Short stories. 9-13)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Scieszka serves up the second volume in his Guys Read Library, and the spotlight this time is on thrillers. As he did in Guys Read: Funny Business (2010), Scieszka has commissioned new stories from 10 luminaries, such as Margaret Peterson Haddix, Walter Dean Myers, Gennifer Choldenko, and others, including Krosoczka, who has contributed a graphic story about a boy whose snack of fried pudding grants him superpowers. Among the others, Anthony Horowitz offers a witty story about a boy whose older brother is the worst detective in the world, and Matt de la Pena supplies a moving tale about a wishing machine. Although six of the stories find their thrills in the real world, three are ghost stories. (Bruce Hale, meanwhile, finds monsters in a storm drain.) There are more frissons than thrills here, yet boys will surely find these stories to be compelling reads, and that's the point, isn't it?--Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist
