Do We Expect Nonfiction to Be Serious?

When I was compiling a list of different kinds of stories, poems, horoscopes, etc. I wanted to see in my book Funny Girl, I was hoping to appeal to as wide an array of interests as possible. Sportsy kids. Kids who like real stories. Comics. You name it. And, of course, I wanted some Nonfiction in there.

Unfortunately, I learned pretty quickly that if you ask a Nonfiction author to be funny on command, oftentimes that very request stumps them. And who can blame them? How do you pluck humor fr...