The Funniest People in Books: 250 Anecdotes

Some Sample Anecdotes:

- Simon and Schuster once published a children's book titled Dr. Dan the Bandage Man. As a publicity gimmick, they decided to include a half-dozen band-aids in each book, so publisher Richard Simon sent this telegram to a friend at Johnson and Johnson: "PLEASE SHIP TWO MILLION BAND-AIDS IMMEDIATELY." The following day Mr. Simon received this telegram in reply: "BAND-AIDS ON THEIR WAY. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?"

- The parents of Jerry Spinelli, author of the Newbery Medal-winning Maniac Magee, spent very little money on themselves, but out of love they made sure that their children enjoyed very nice Christmases. One Christmas, Jerry had unwrapped what he thought was his final present. His father told him, "Well, I guess that's it. Looks like you did pretty good this year." Later, Jerry was sent on an errand to the kitchen, and he found his real final present: a Roadmaster bicycle. Mr. Spinelli describes the gift in a memorable way: "Love leaning on a kickstand."

- When Gary Paulsen wrote his novel Hatchet, which is about a young boy who finds himself alone in the wilderness with only a hatchet when the person piloting the small plane he is in dies of a heart attack, he wanted the novel to be as realistic as possible. Therefore, whatever the hero, Brian, experiences in the novel, Mr. Paulsen also set out to experience in real life. In doing this, he was remarkably successful, even creating fire using a hatchet and a stone. However, he experienced a setback when he attempted to eat turtle eggs. The eggs so nauseated him that he vomited, despite three valiant attempts to eat them. However, his lead sled dog, Cookie, enjoyed eating the eggs -- she also enjoyed eating his vomit. Despite his lack of success in eating the turtle eggs, Mr. Paulsen decided to leave the egg-eating scene in his novel -- he figured that Brian would be so hungry that he would be able to eat the eggs and not vomit.

- Dorothy Parker taught at Los Angeles State College, where she discovered that the students were "narrow." She had them read John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, but the students disliked the book, saying it was dirty. However, when Mr. Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the students' attitudes changed. According to Mrs. Parker, "After that, they behaved as if they had given it to him."