Rib-Ticklers
written and illustrated by Teri and Robert Sloat
Lothrop, op

• Best 106 Hardcover Children's Books of 1995

Reviews

Sacramento Bee: Bursting with word play is Rib-Ticklers, with some 200 riddles, puns and silly jokes, this Sebastopol couple has outdone themselves in assembling a very funny book. You can't miss with this one.

Childsplay Magazine: A wonderful compilation of jokes, limericks and riddles to keep the kids and you laughing throughout your vacation. Extremely clever.

Book Bag: Rib-Ticklers is the cleverest amalgum of picture, riddle and sharp sayings that ever got banned in the classroom except at free-time, all about animals.

School Library Journal: …the amusing artwork and clever layout make Rib-Ticklers a solid choice for the humor shelves.

USA Today: …children will find Rib-Ticklers one of the funniest, most inspiring books on the shelf today. Seriously, the Sloats display the kind of verbal playfulness that spurs children to create their own jokes and even write them down. A rewarding aspect of this book: In addition to the accessible, detailed illustrations, the book is very word-intensive—each page brims with jokes and references (making it worth the $15 because the book requires poring over). And more importantly, children learn that words and language can be utterly hilarious.

Burrelle's Syndicated Reviews: Fifteen fun-packed scenes take young readers from "Pre-Hysterical Times" to "A Real Smash". The main characters here are dinosaurs, monkeys, lions, etc.

About the Book

Writing jokes is like telling short stories where you think of the ending first. I love to play with words, but when my family got tired of listening to my jokes all the time, I started writing them down. From then on, it has been my way of not being bored or nervous when I'm on a long car trip or waiting for an appointment.

Sometimes in the morning when I find it hard to start writing, I begin by just writing jokes—it's a warm-up exercise. On a long trip, I saw cows and started writing all the words I could think of in connection to cows—graze, milk, milkshake, bull, field, grass, pasture, ice-cream, calf, bull, butter, udder, dairy, fence, hoof, steer, Jersey, Holstein, etc.

Why are cows such good dancers?
They are GRAZE-ful!

Why do you milk cows after an earthquake?
To get milkshakes.

My husband and I illustrated Rib-Ticklers together, and maybe we will do another book together someday.