A Barrel of Laughs: A Vale of Tears

Rating:
Summary: The Funniest Book I Have Ever Read!
Review: A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears is a story about a prince named Roger who is makes everybody laugh no matter what he does. He is sent on a magical quest in which he goes through The Forever Forest, The Dastardly Divide, The Sea of Screams, and The Mountain of Malice. In the end, he ends up with a beautiful maiden. This book is not meant to be serious. It is meant to be comical and it succeeds. Jules Feiffer has written a comedy masterpiece. I recommend it to anyone ages 10 or up who is looking for a humorous book.

Rating:
Summary: Clever, subversive fun
Review: A nice, quick, clever little bit of fun. The adult book this most reminded me of was The French Lieutenant's Woman, with the intruding, self-conscious author and the characters who will not do what they are told. There is no closest children's book that comes to mind; a warped Grimm, or a twisted King Arthur perhaps, but nothing else. Certainly, Feiffer has written a children's masterpiece. Difficult to describe, hard to tell, it is, perhaps like The Little Prince, the story of a man on a quest to find ~ though he doesn't realise it ~ himself and, in the process, change and mature his character. Like all the best children's (and adult's) books, there is no preaching, and the reader has no idea, till he's finished, that he has read a wise book.

Rating:
Summary: Clever, subversive fun
Review: A nice, quick, clever little bit of fun. The adult book this most reminded me of was The French Lieutenant's Woman, with the intruding, self-conscious author and the characters who will not do what they are told. There is no closest children's book that comes to mind; a warped Grimm, or a twisted King Arthur perhaps, but nothing else. Certainly, Feiffer has written a children's masterpiece. Difficult to describe, hard to tell, it is, perhaps like The Little Prince, the story of a man on a quest to find ~ though he doesn't realise it ~ himself and, in the process, change and mature his character. Like all the best children's (and adult's) books, there is no preaching, and the reader has no idea, till he's finished, that he has read a wise book.

Rating:
Summary: Laughing On!
Review: Have you ever started laughing and couldn't stop? The reason: Roger is near. He stars in A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears by Jules Feiffer, which is a wonderful and hilarious fiction book. It is about a prince, Roger, who makes anyone laugh for no reason when they are within a half-mile of him. The sorcerer, to make the problem stop, sends him on a quest.

This book is extremely funny, but only half as entertaining for the older readers. The king, King Whatchamacallit, messes up with his words so much, that it may get a tad old after a while. However, when you hear of the characters and how they act and are described, you can't help but laugh. The book is also very creative. For example, how creative is turning into a stick and throwing yourself, then having a friend look for you? Or for a super time (without drugs) have someone walk within 1/2 mile from you? As you can see, this is a fantastic book.

But of course, some people are never happy. They may think that this book isn't detailed enough. That isn't quite true. The details are just more spaced out. This makes the book a little more exciting. And for the details that aren't so clear, which is quite close to impossible, the little sketches will help. Sure, maybe not everyone would like the fact that it has pictures, but those pictures really add a lot to the story line. It adds details that could take paragraphs, maybe pages to express in words. There is no way that either could take away from such a fun and wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous and Quirky (Is that a word?) Quest
Review: I can't tell you how many times I've read this book. When I first started reading it, I was disapointed because it seemed like a total toddler's book. But the more I read, the more absorbed I became. So many things happen so quickly that you want to keep reading just to find out what's coming next. Jules Feiffer doesn't write like other writers; he plays around with his work, and you can tell he was having a good time writing this book. And although the book is very fun and light reading, I think there are also some hidden meanings and life lessons to be learned from it. I plan to read this book many times more. I also think this book would appeal to the "Phantom Tollbooth" audience, and vice versa.

Rating:
Summary: The Funniest Book I Have Ever Read!
Review: I laughed untill I cried in many parts. A good book to read on a bad day (or any day for that matter) and A MUST READ.

Rating:
Summary: Die Laughing -- a review by Olivia, age 9
Review: In the beginning Roger is a prince, but not a normal prince. Roger has a strange effect on people. If he gets too close to a person, they could die laughing. When J. Wellington Wizard tells Roger to go on a quest, Roger asks, "Isn't a quest where you have to go somewhere or find something?" J. Wellington says that he sees him entering the Forever Forest, and tells him to take a sack of magic powder, and whenever he sees someone, to dust a little on himself, so that Roger can turn into a thing, maybe even a leaf. Then, whoever he is near won't laugh. Roger sets out on his quest, gets stuck in the Forever Forest, and meets a lot of new people, such as little Lucille, Andrew, and Tom. Some are evil and some are nice. Roger hates it in the Forever Forest, but he knows it will get better and he will be the happiest man on earth.

This was a very funny book to read because the author pretended that he doesn't have control over his book, such as when, in chapter 5, Night of the Frogs, he says that he was just trying to fool Tom because chapter 5 is really called Tom. Tom is a character who is supposed to leave on page 9 but he refused. The author always talks about how Tom can walk in and out of the book, and come back at the perfect time. I thought this book was hilarious, engaging, and thoroughly entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Die Laughing -- a review by Olivia, age 9
Review: My son and I read this book together and couldn't help laughing at poor Roger and his "quest"! We loved this book and the illustrations!

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing book
Review: This book is capable of altering your life, and that of the children you read it to. It is approachable, and funny at the beginning, and moves to an involving (while still funny) morality tale with useful lessons and vocabulary. The fable of the Valley of Vengence and the "need" to Get Even is enlightening to old and young.

This is as entertaining to read aloud as was the first Harry Potter. Better, actually.

Rating:
Summary: absolutely amazing
Review: this was a fabulously, rediculously funny book. i did not put it down in the two days that i read it. since the first time, i have read it about seven or eight times. i love this book, and i recommend it to everyone who loves a good laugh when their down. or even when your up! this book is a lot of fun.