The Happy Hocky Family

Rating:
Summary: Happy Me
Review: I don't even have children and I loved this book. It is a hilarious parody of childrens books and children's actions. I think adults would enjoy it even more than children would. If you enjoy light-hearted satire, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: This book is magic
Review: I loved reading the Happy Hocky family to my both of my children. Just as my daughter was approaching school age, I saw her reading the Happy Hocky family. It was the first independent reading she did.
Yesterday evening my son, who is the same age now, got the HHF out of the bookcase... and read a bit of it to me.
So, both of them have started independent reading with the same book.
I think the "magic" is in the fact that the repetition helps kids get their heads around the reading part -- while the dry humour helps the parents come back to the book where if it were real Dick and Jane stuff, they wouldn't be able to stand it.
If your children are in the age group 3-5 I strongly suggest you get this book. It's a reading magnet.

Rating:
Summary: A recipe for insolence and irony
Review: I read a lot, and I have read many funny books by everyone from Vonnegut to Barry, from Twain to Swift. I have never laughed as hard at a book as I did while reading this one. I had tears streaming down my face, and I had difficulty breathing between peals of laughter that were less like "peals" and more like "siezures." Nothing else I have ever read even comes close.

Rating:
Summary: Wacky Fun for All Ages
Review: My favorite children's book, The Happy Hocky Family by Lane Smith, blends the simple vocabulary and sparse text of a beginner reader (think "Dick and Jane" sentance construction), bold graphics, and Simpsons-esque dysfunctional humor. Read it with your kids, or read it to yourself...just read it and enjoy!!!

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Kids' Book of All Time
Review: Not only is this book FUNNY...but it is an amazing opportunity to "teach" kids about humor. Each page is filled with subtle humor---probably over the heads of most kids until it is explained. In one sequence, a little girls says, "I have a balloon...do you have a balloon?" In the next, her balloon pops, followed by, "I have a string...do you have a string?" Scene after scene gives adult readers the chance to explain to little readers what makes this so funny...and in the process, give them an education on wit and wry humor unavailable elsewhere. Very sophisticated...brilliantly simple illustrations...I've read nearly every childrens' book out there and I can't recommend this one enough.

Rating:
Summary: Wacky Fun for All Ages
Review: Not only is this book FUNNY...but it is an amazing opportunity to "teach" kids about humor. Each page is filled with subtle humor---probably over the heads of most kids until it is explained. In one sequence, a little girls says, "I have a balloon...do you have a balloon?" In the next, her balloon pops, followed by, "I have a string...do you have a string?" Scene after scene gives adult readers the chance to explain to little readers what makes this so funny...and in the process, give them an education on wit and wry humor unavailable elsewhere. Very sophisticated...brilliantly simple illustrations...I've read nearly every childrens' book out there and I can't recommend this one enough.

Rating:
Summary: So funny!
Review: This book is really good! It's one of the best children's books I've ever read. I may be betraying the children's book community by saying this, but THE HAPPY HOCKY FAMILY beats CAT IN THE HAT any day!

Rating:
Summary: A recipe for insolence and irony
Review: This is a funny book as a parody of dopey children's literature. But as a book for actual children, I find it pernicious. If you want your kids to be sassy, caustic and sarcastic, why not just let them watch a lot of television? This book will teach children that it is okay to be obnoxious.

Rating:
Summary: clever and fun book for ages 3 to adult
Review: When I see that a children's book has been written and illustrated by the same person, I ususally find some weakness in the story line or the visual presentation. Lane Smith has beat the pattern and authored a unique and entertaining book that caused my three children (ages 3, 11, and 12)to laugh out loud. The illustrations are marvelously spare, yet masterfully efficient in portraying the Happy quirky Hocky family. Did I tell you that I laughed out loud as well? I love sophisticated humour for kids; this is a fun book. I hope Lane Smith gives us more Hocky Family stories.