Curtis and Scieszka: Funny Summer Stories

Summer memories are the best memories. Something about all the free time and nice weather just seems to make hilarious and memorable things happen. I had the chance to meet two very funny authors recently. We talked about their books, summer reading, and I asked them for their most memorable summer experiences.

 

 

Jon Scieszka, the author of the Time Warp trio series, The Stinky Cheese Man, and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, describes a memorable summer experience involving a cat, a pecan nut bar, and 5 brothers barfing in the car! If you have read his autobiographical book, Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka, then you already know this story, but it's still funny to hear him tell it! (If you haven't read Knucklehead, it's HILARIOUS! You should check it out.)

Christopher Paul Curtis, author of Bud, Not Buddy, Elijah of Buxton, and The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963, had me cracking up (you can actually hear me laughing in the video) when he described how collecting beetles for his beetle aquarium landed him with 4 broken fingers. Yeah, it sounds painful and I shouldn't laugh, but getting your lips stuck to a frozen car mirror sounds painful too and you know you laughed at THAT scene in The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963!

Now it's your turn. Can you top either of these summer stories? What is YOUR favorite summer memory so far? Let us know in the Comments.

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

Comments

[Comment #1]

I love the stinky cheese man!!!I saw a play of it last March:)

[Comment #2]

Hmm.....this year we went to Hawaii? The beaches had strong currents and once I got my face smushed against the sand in the water.

[Comment #3]

The time I tripped, and fell off the moon

[Comment #4]

have you ever shown your face on stacks?!? just wondering!

[Comment #5]

My favorite summer memory so far is when my dad took me and my family to the lake and when we were on the boat we rented I almost caught a HUGE hybrid striper but he got away when it was almost on the boat. It also just about weaved a basket with the lines under the boat! My dad is also a bass fisherman so even though our guide told him not to yank the rod back to set the hook, he keps on doing it, and ripped holes in tons of fishes lips!

[Comment #6]

i think Christopher Paul Curtis's in the funniest and my favorite memory.

[Comment #7]

love jon scieszka's books! I've read them all and they are awesome! So far my favorite summer memory was having a conversation about the pros and cons of tomatoes with 8 other people from my family.

[Comment #8]

Wow Jon Scieszka had a hilarious summer memory! I love his books! Don't you?

[Comment #9]

my favorite summer was when
I went to Louisiana to visit my family.

[Comment #10]

He is so weird

[Comment #11]

I love to read Bud, not Buddy!!!!!!!=)

[Comment #12]

When my dad and sister and I were at Universal Studios and Spiderman vaulted out of a store, said hi to us, and ran away. Then a few minutes later he ran back. XD

[Comment #13]

I REMEMBER READING STINKY CHEESE MAN, AND IT WAS SO FUNNY.

[Comment #14]

this summer at the mall, i threw a coin into one of the huge fountains and fell flat on my face in front of a bunch of strangers and kids into the fountain! i felt like ramona when she fell through the ceiling!

[Comment #15]

haha lol love reding bud not buddy <3

[Comment #16]

I guess my funiest summer memory was when my dad tried out our slip n' slide. He rolled off our yard, and all the nieghbors saw a thirty year old man with swim trunks, sliding off his yard.

[Comment #17]

my funniest memory is when i went to summer camp and i slipped and fell in the mud=( It was so embarassing!!!!!!!!!

[Comment #18]

My favorite vacation is when I went to MEXICO!
100%MEXICAN(PROUD OF IT)