Combines jokes with fun facts in a colorful format. ( )

My son loves these books. We started reading National Geographic Kids books when he was about six (he's nine now) and I can honestly say that these books have been instrumental in teaching him to read. One weekend, the child actually read a 300 pg. book (one from the Weird, But True Series) to my husband and I over the course of two days - 50 pg.s three times a day until he'd finished. I mention this because last year my son was sent to a reading specialist because his teacher was concerned that he was reading below his age-level. Although I was happy for him to receive the extra attention from the specialist, I always doubted that he had any real problems reading because he read the Nat'l Geo books to us constantly. Thankfully, I was right. He no longer sees the reading specialist, reads above his grade-level, and even reads out-loud to his classmates at lunchtime.

Why is this so important? Because kids are often labeled as poor readers when it's not that they can't read, but rather that they simply aren't interested in what they are being given to read. My teen-age step-daughter grew up thinking that she was a poor reader, too. That all changed when I gave her the Twilight Series. She read the last book, "Breaking Dawn," (756 pages) in less than 48 hours!

There are several elements that make the Nat'l Geo series so appealing, particularly to elementary aged boys. The layouts are very simple, not cluttered. Each joke (or fact in the Weird, But True Series) is only one or two sentences long. The font is much larger than what you would find in a typical chapter book designed for this age group. And the visual images are excellent - exciting, funny, interesting - they immediately draw the reader in, curious to find out more.

The Just Joking Series is one of my son's favorites. We'd previously purchased the first book in the series and my husband and I had each spent several evenings with my son taking turns with him reading the jokes aloud and cracking each other up. We purchased the box set (includes books 1-3) in September for his birthday and are almost through the other two books, as well. We've also pre-ordered "Just Joking #4."

The jokes in these books are mostly very funny, very clean, and only occasionally so dumb that they merit the buzzer sound (think "America's Got Talent"). The joke books also include several tongue twisters. Truthfully, our son doesn't really care for these, but the jokes more than make up for this.

Of all the joke books we've got, these are our favorites. As a parent, teacher, library volunteer, and chairperson of my son's Scholastic Book Fairs, I can definitely recommend both the boxed set and the individuals titles in the series for lower elementary-aged children. ( )