Tales of Trickery from the Land of Spoof

by Alvin Schwartz, David Christiana (Illustrator)

A collection of humorous tales from a variety of sources.

Genres: Short Stories

Hardcover

First published December 1, 1985

About the author

Alvin^Schwartz
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Alvin Schwartz was the author of more than fifty books dedicated to and dealing with topics such as folklore and word play, many of which were intended for young readers. He is often confused with another Alvin_Schwartz, who wrote Superman and Batman daily comics strips and a novel titled The Blowtop.

For Batman - See: Alvin^^Schwartz https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Reviews

[Bernadette · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this collection, Schwartz retells numerous and hilarious pranks that have been played around the world. The book opens with a description of a trickster, and how, when people were settling in the American West, they rated tricks. The best were called “bald-headed whizzers.” Some of the tricks described include a boy who secretly changes his neighbor’s turtle for a bigger and bigger one each day, and then switches it back; lawyers who convince a colleague that his head is shrinking by replacing his hat each day with a larger one; Abe Lincoln and how he gets muddy footprints on the ceiling; several cases of people dressing up and convincing others’ that they were royalty; artwork completed by a chimpanzee that was displayed in well-known galleries; and how to convince people to hold a broomstick to the ceiling. The collection ends with examples of different April Fool’s Day pranks.
When I flipped through this book, I thought to myself, “Do I want my students to read any of these ideas?” But, as I read through them and realized that they were based on actual events, I thought they were great! My class would thoroughly enjoy the descriptions of these pranks, seeing as they made me laugh out loud, especially after reading the notes in the back that describe the historical facts involved. I tried to choose a favorite, but it was difficult. I enjoyed “A Nude Horse is a Rude Horse” about a man who sets up a fictitious organization focused on clothing animals and how people actually believe in this organization and donate money! I also liked “Pierre Brassau” about the chimpanzee art in the galleries. This story made me think of my mother, who is an artist of more traditional and realistic means and who truly disliked that this “non-objective” art was in galleries and hers was not! I may even have gotten an idea or two for the next April Fool’s Day!

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was quite a fun collection of real-life spoofs, pranks, and other assorted trickery. The stories were funny, the illustrations were expressive, and all in all, it was a fun time to read. Highly recommended for the reader looking for a good laugh (or for the prankster looking for ideas).

[Robin Dawes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very very short collection of light-hearted hoaxes and practical jokes, some historically documented, others apocryphal, and others more of a "tall tale" variety.