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That Ain't the Whole Plan
This is a book of bad ideas gone wrong.
As five-time champion of the West Virginia Liars' Contest, and with twenty years experience as a professional humorist and storyteller, Lepp has learned how to create hilarious, family-friendly stories. Many of them are about he and his buddy Skeeter. This is a collection of Skeeter & Bil tales. From tying a mannequin to the hood of a truck and driving around town dressed like deer to escaping a Cub Scout den and a hippopotamus in a corn maze; from falsifying book reports to sledding down frozen creeks; from breaking the ocean to greasing a quarter-mile slip-n-slide with pilfered industrial floor wax; from experimenting with strike-
anywhere matches to riding in a washing machine rodeo, Bil and Skeeter have tried it all. With more than thirty hilarious stories from childhood through adulthood, this book is a primer for folks of any age who wish to concoct and carry out bad ideas, or just read about somebody else’s.
If you want a copy you'll have to go to leppstorytelling dot com
As five-time champion of the West Virginia Liars' Contest, and with twenty years experience as a professional humorist and storyteller, Lepp has learned how to create hilarious, family-friendly stories. Many of them are about he and his buddy Skeeter. This is a collection of Skeeter & Bil tales. From tying a mannequin to the hood of a truck and driving around town dressed like deer to escaping a Cub Scout den and a hippopotamus in a corn maze; from falsifying book reports to sledding down frozen creeks; from breaking the ocean to greasing a quarter-mile slip-n-slide with pilfered industrial floor wax; from experimenting with strike-
anywhere matches to riding in a washing machine rodeo, Bil and Skeeter have tried it all. With more than thirty hilarious stories from childhood through adulthood, this book is a primer for folks of any age who wish to concoct and carry out bad ideas, or just read about somebody else’s.
If you want a copy you'll have to go to leppstorytelling dot com
241 pages, Paperback
Published June 29, 2023
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Bil Lepp
22 books13 followersBil Lepp is an award-winning storyteller, author, recording artist, and contributing
columnist for the Charleston Gazette-
Mail. He has been a professional storyteller for more than twenty years, appearing regularly at The National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN, as well as at festivals, schools, corporate events, and other venues around the country. In 2018, Lepp was presented West Virginia’s highest Folklife honor, The Vandalia Award. He hosted the television show Man vs History on the History Channel. For more information and for booking please visit leppstorytelling.com
Lepp's debut picture book, The King of Little Things, was published in September of 2013, by Peachtree Publishers. The King of Little Things won the PEN Steven Kroll Award, is a Bankstreet Irma Black Award Honoree, a Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner, and was a nominee for the Kansas Reading Assoc. Bill Martin, Jr. Award and the Delaware Diamonds Award. The book received a Kirkus Starred Review, as well as favorable reviews from The Wall Street Journal, The School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and other sources.
columnist for the Charleston Gazette-
Mail. He has been a professional storyteller for more than twenty years, appearing regularly at The National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN, as well as at festivals, schools, corporate events, and other venues around the country. In 2018, Lepp was presented West Virginia’s highest Folklife honor, The Vandalia Award. He hosted the television show Man vs History on the History Channel. For more information and for booking please visit leppstorytelling.com
Lepp's debut picture book, The King of Little Things, was published in September of 2013, by Peachtree Publishers. The King of Little Things won the PEN Steven Kroll Award, is a Bankstreet Irma Black Award Honoree, a Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner, and was a nominee for the Kansas Reading Assoc. Bill Martin, Jr. Award and the Delaware Diamonds Award. The book received a Kirkus Starred Review, as well as favorable reviews from The Wall Street Journal, The School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and other sources.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 29, 2024
I bought this book after hearing Bil tell one of the stories in it live at the National Storytelling Festival. Any fan of Bil’s will know how funny he is in person. What you might not know is that he is somehow even funnier in print.
This book is a marvel. I chose to read it out loud to my 14-year-old son, and I can say, it’s truly one of the best reading experiences I’ve ever had with him, and that is saying a lot. I’ve read to him many books, nearly every night of his life. We’ve never laughed this hard, this long, or had so much fun reading together.
It’s a collection of “Bil and Skeeter” stories, Skeeter being his best friend living in the mythical town of Half Dollar, in Dry County, West Virginia. There is a bunch of being raised in the 1970s stories, and while they are absolutely anchored in the very rural town of Half Dollar, they are also very much universal.
In the great tall tale tradition, of which Bil is one of the masters, each story starts out as feeling 100% factual, with deep heart, great humor, and sparkling dialogue. Each stories ends with 100% unabashedly shameful prevarications, improbability, stupidity, and juvenile high-jinx.
We would get red faced and gasp for breath from laughing so hard; then my son would say stop NS say, "Dad, read some more!", but we were like two kids in church, unable to stop laughing. My wife would come into his room and yell at us for waking her up.
At least 5 of the stories had him yelling, “THAT’S SO STUPID” or “WHAT? HOW!”
But Bil is sneaky; many of the stories touch on themes of love, family, religion, science, empathy, curiosity, and deep intelligence. Some even teach geography and science, and even how babies are made. But, you know, with lots of bat poop and prat falls. He pulls back the curtain on the super specific town of Half Dollar, much like Garrison Keillor does in his Lake Wobegone stories, and makes you fall in love with a place and the people who live in that place. He somehow finds the humanity and three dimensionality of these characters that ultimately make you happy to be alive and hopeful for the future.
I’m buying a copy for every person in my family. It’s a perfect book in so many ways, except that it ended too soon. We wiped the last tear of laughter from our eyes as we read the last story, hoping that Bil does a follow up, real soon.
This book is a marvel. I chose to read it out loud to my 14-year-old son, and I can say, it’s truly one of the best reading experiences I’ve ever had with him, and that is saying a lot. I’ve read to him many books, nearly every night of his life. We’ve never laughed this hard, this long, or had so much fun reading together.
It’s a collection of “Bil and Skeeter” stories, Skeeter being his best friend living in the mythical town of Half Dollar, in Dry County, West Virginia. There is a bunch of being raised in the 1970s stories, and while they are absolutely anchored in the very rural town of Half Dollar, they are also very much universal.
In the great tall tale tradition, of which Bil is one of the masters, each story starts out as feeling 100% factual, with deep heart, great humor, and sparkling dialogue. Each stories ends with 100% unabashedly shameful prevarications, improbability, stupidity, and juvenile high-jinx.
We would get red faced and gasp for breath from laughing so hard; then my son would say stop NS say, "Dad, read some more!", but we were like two kids in church, unable to stop laughing. My wife would come into his room and yell at us for waking her up.
At least 5 of the stories had him yelling, “THAT’S SO STUPID” or “WHAT? HOW!”
But Bil is sneaky; many of the stories touch on themes of love, family, religion, science, empathy, curiosity, and deep intelligence. Some even teach geography and science, and even how babies are made. But, you know, with lots of bat poop and prat falls. He pulls back the curtain on the super specific town of Half Dollar, much like Garrison Keillor does in his Lake Wobegone stories, and makes you fall in love with a place and the people who live in that place. He somehow finds the humanity and three dimensionality of these characters that ultimately make you happy to be alive and hopeful for the future.
I’m buying a copy for every person in my family. It’s a perfect book in so many ways, except that it ended too soon. We wiped the last tear of laughter from our eyes as we read the last story, hoping that Bil does a follow up, real soon.
July 10, 2023
So, this is the kind of book you’ll read over and over again. It’s the book where, while you’re cooking in the kitchen, you will get to hear your 11 year old giggling in the other room. It’s the book you’ll be googling the author to find out when and where you can go see him live. It’s the book you’ll be buying for the whole family this holiday season.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews