Summer Reading Challenge, Wk 1: Interview with John Branyan

It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time for our Summer Reading Challenge (SRC) extras!  In case you missed it, here is the Introduction, our list of 100 Great Adventure Books for Kids, as well as week one’s Book review and discussion questions.  Enjoy!

A Journey of Funny

Next week, Janie will introduce the SRC writing contests, including a contest for younger kids to retell a story, such as a fairytale, folktale, or even an event from their own life.  While the entries don’t have to be funny, a little humor can go a long way toward winning over your readers.  (Just ask Mark Twain or Dave Barry!)  In fact, our reading selection this week, Around the World by Matt Phelan, uses quite a bit of humor to retell the protagonists’ stories.

So, in preparation for our contest, I’d like to introduce you to a very funny guy: stand-up comic, author and Christian, John Branyan.  Many of you may have heard of John in conjunction with Tim Hawkins and their Rockshow Comedy Inc. which you can catch at various churches and comedy clubs around the nation, as well as his website, JohnBranyan.com.

Beyond making introductions, in today’s interview, I tease out some of his defining early influences—school and church events, favorite kids’ books, and role models.  John also shares how he uses notebooks (as opposed to journals!) to help him capture funny moments, as well as other tricks of the trade that kids and adults can put into practice to make their own “journey of funny.”

Finally, he also tells us about his children’s picture book, A Triune Tale of Diminuitive Swine.  The book grew out of a stand up act in which John retells the story of the three little pigs in Shakespearean English.  Although it’s turned out to be his most popular bit, John tells us here of how the story almost never saw the light of day…and how his 16 year-old daughter gave him the green light to give it a try at the comedy club.

Podcast 30: Interview with John Branyan

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Thanks so much, John!  I hope you guys enjoyed hearing from him as much as I did.  Do you have any questions for John?  Any suggestions for the rest of us on how you’ve encouraged your kids’ funny bones?

As we start on our adventure, I was planning to share some other resources today–like music, globes, and food ideas–but I’m out of time.  But never fear, we’ve got two months ahead of us on our summer adventure, so look for those links in another post soon!