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cana's review
2.0
Fun at first, but it seemed really, REALLY long. I can't believe it only took two days to read--it seems like it's been much longer than that...
heather_h's review
5.0
Great collection of authors. Some were really funny while others were mysterious. Especially liked John Green's chapter.
moeckles's review against another edition
3.0
*3.5*
A fun read, though nothing mind blowing. It was fun to hear all of the author's ridiculous alibis and especially to see some favorites or really well known ones.
A fun read, though nothing mind blowing. It was fun to hear all of the author's ridiculous alibis and especially to see some favorites or really well known ones.
hollandsays's review against another edition
4.0
Loved, loved, loved. If you love picture books, middle grade or YA authors, pick up this book by the brilliant Jon Scieszka. It's a 'Who Done It' and about 75 authors are suspects and must provide alibis. From the outrageous to an albeit twitter confession to illustrations, it reminds me how lucky we are to have such phenomenal authors putting our such great works.
majkah's review against another edition
2.0
It was ok, I mostly skimmed through the authors I didn't recognize. It's kind of hard to stay interested when there are so many stories and the book is so long.
mrskatiefitz's review against another edition
3.0
More than 80 young adult authors have been assembled at a party given by notorious editor Herman Q. Mildew, at which each one of them is asked to provide an alibi for Mildew’s murder. Organized by Jon Scieszka, this unique collaboration is a fundraiser for 826nyc, a non-profit literacy organization founded by Dave Eggers. Included in the collection are beloved YA authors such as David Levithan, John Green, Todd Strasser, Lemony Snicket, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle, and Libba Bray, as well as many other authors whose names might not yet be familiar to all readers.
I checked this book out of the library primarily because I thought it would be an easy way to get exposed to the writing style of lots of YA authors at once, without necessarily having to track down a full-length novel by each one of them. Unfortunately, a lot of the alibis written for this collection wound up being very similar, and only a handful of authors truly stood out from their peers. I suspect that Scieszka provided each author with certain details of the supposed murder, because many of those recurred in each alibi, and many of them were used in the exact same way. It was interesting to see how authors would support or contradict each other’s testimony, but by the halfway point in the book, I was running out of steam because I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again.
Ultimately, I think this book is mainly an inside joke for the authors themselves, and for young writers involved with 826nyc. There are certainly some references that savvy YA readers will pick up on, such as John Green’s mention of his “puff”, and some authors that I’d never really heard of whose names I will now remember, but overall, I felt like this book was not really for general audiences. It seemed to focus mostly on a specific circle of YA authors, all of whom know each other, rather than on a teen audience. I wouldn’t be surprised if most kids who pick up this book don’t finish it, or don’t really get it. For the rare reader who really likes this project, there is also The Exquisite Corpse, a similar 2010 project also spearheaded by Jon Scieszka.
I checked this book out of the library primarily because I thought it would be an easy way to get exposed to the writing style of lots of YA authors at once, without necessarily having to track down a full-length novel by each one of them. Unfortunately, a lot of the alibis written for this collection wound up being very similar, and only a handful of authors truly stood out from their peers. I suspect that Scieszka provided each author with certain details of the supposed murder, because many of those recurred in each alibi, and many of them were used in the exact same way. It was interesting to see how authors would support or contradict each other’s testimony, but by the halfway point in the book, I was running out of steam because I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again.
Ultimately, I think this book is mainly an inside joke for the authors themselves, and for young writers involved with 826nyc. There are certainly some references that savvy YA readers will pick up on, such as John Green’s mention of his “puff”, and some authors that I’d never really heard of whose names I will now remember, but overall, I felt like this book was not really for general audiences. It seemed to focus mostly on a specific circle of YA authors, all of whom know each other, rather than on a teen audience. I wouldn’t be surprised if most kids who pick up this book don’t finish it, or don’t really get it. For the rare reader who really likes this project, there is also The Exquisite Corpse, a similar 2010 project also spearheaded by Jon Scieszka.
roodborstje's review against another edition
3.0
Most of these stories are actually pretty funny on their own, but reading them all it just gets a little repetitive.
kairene's review against another edition
2.0
The goal of this book is very good, but I think the actual execution of it was not very strong. There were way too many authors with extremely short stories that got repetitive after the first 20. After that, there were 60 more.
littledevonnook's review against another edition
3.0
My overall thoughts:
1. This book has a brilliant premise. We are told of an awful editor named Herman Mildew who invites all of his authors to a party but at this party it is announced that he has been found dead. The book then leads on to give us eighty different alibis from an assortment of young adult authors as to why they couldn't of killed Herman Mildew.
2. I enjoyed the variety in accounts from the different authors, some simply wrote their alibi whilst others used other means such as illustrations or Twitter conversations to back up their stories.
3. It was quite disjointed, I never felt like the story was getting anywhere or that I was coming to any conclusions in my own mind as to what was going on.
4. I may have enjoyed it more had I known who more of the authors were but as I only recognized a few (e.g. Lemony Snicket, John Green) I found it difficult to connect with and get excited about other authors parts in the story.
5. All in all I think this is a good read but by the end it became very repetitive and I found I was reading similar alibis over and over!
1. This book has a brilliant premise. We are told of an awful editor named Herman Mildew who invites all of his authors to a party but at this party it is announced that he has been found dead. The book then leads on to give us eighty different alibis from an assortment of young adult authors as to why they couldn't of killed Herman Mildew.
2. I enjoyed the variety in accounts from the different authors, some simply wrote their alibi whilst others used other means such as illustrations or Twitter conversations to back up their stories.
3. It was quite disjointed, I never felt like the story was getting anywhere or that I was coming to any conclusions in my own mind as to what was going on.
4. I may have enjoyed it more had I known who more of the authors were but as I only recognized a few (e.g. Lemony Snicket, John Green) I found it difficult to connect with and get excited about other authors parts in the story.
5. All in all I think this is a good read but by the end it became very repetitive and I found I was reading similar alibis over and over!