Mr. Funny is very funny. He makes everyone laugh. But he is very puzzled when he meets Mr. Grumpy who doesn't even smile. How will he make him laugh?

A hilarious new book of pranks from multi-award-winning actor and comedian MATT LUCAS – star of The Great British Bake Off and creator of Thank You, Baked Potato, an official UK download chart-topper and Amazon bestseller!

Comedy is a powerful contemporary source of influence and information. In the still-evolving digital era, the opportunity to consume and share comedy has never been as available. And yet, despite its vast cultural imprint, comedy is a little-understood vehicle for serious public engagement in urgent social justice issues – even though humor offers frames of hope and optimism that can encourage participation in social problems. Moreover, in the midst of a merger of entertainment and news in the contemporary information ecology, and a decline in perceptions of trust in government and traditional media institutions, comedy may be a unique force for change in pressing social justice challenges. Comedians who say something serious about the world while they make us laugh are capable of mobilizing the masses, focusing a critical lens on injustices, and injecting hope and optimism into seemingly hopeless problems. By combining communication and social justice frameworks with contemporary comedy examples, authors Caty Borum Chattoo and Lauren Feldman show us how comedy can help to serve as a vehicle of change. Through rich case studies, audience research, and interviews with comedians and social justice leaders and strategists, A Comedian and an Activist Walk Into a Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social Justice explains how comedy – both in the entertainment marketplace and as cultural strategy – can engage audiences with issues such as global poverty, climate change, immigration, and sexual assault, and how activists work with comedy to reach and empower publics in the networked, participatory digital media age.

So What! Stories or Whatever! is a collection of stories about the people who are found in a contemporary High School in England; tales that will make the reader laugh, cry, think deeply or differently, and maybe even be inspired or impressed. It generally follows the early and subsequent career of Robert Jeffrey, as he attempts to prove to himself that he can motivate the children he teaches to want to learn about Science – and maybe become scientists one day. All through the book we are made aware of the joys and disappointments experienced by pupils and their teachers. The book tends to concentrate in the latter part on an unpleasant boy Kyle, who is a bully, and his effect on two other boys, Adam and Nigel Shantra. Unknown to Mr Jeffrey he also affects the way his teaching job changes at the exact time that Robert really feels he has become a “good teacher”. The three paths of Nigel, Kyle and Robert Jeffrey converge several years later, in the concluding chapters, to provide an unexpected twist to the tale. Waterloo Road or Grange Hill meets Gervase Phinn? – well, maybe! Whether you love this book or hate it you will discover that the stories about its individuals will stay in your memory for a long time. With over twenty years teaching experience behind him, G J Griffiths has brought to the reader some of the stories about the children he taught, in this amusing and often poignant book. Parents, teachers, pupils and students will all recognise the characters and their tales. With the ever-present controversy about changing the education system this is a timely illustration of what is to be found in the classrooms of the contemporary High School.

Welcome to the world of football-mad Troy Brown, a typical fifteen-year-old, with a loving family, a tight-knit group of friends, and a nice house in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Materially, he has a comfortable life - but then no hormone-ridden, angst-filled teenager would ever describe their life as comfortable, and Troy was no exception, plagued as he was by ‘the whole world is against me' complex, ‘no girlfriend' syndrome, the pains of unrequited love (or lust) and the usual hoard of teenage frustrations and obsessions. A privileged peek into his very private ‘warts and all’ 2003 diary reveals the transformation of his boring, ordinary life, as Troy tries to negotiate the many twists and turns in what was to become the most extraordinary year of his life, fraught with family secrets, misunderstandings, dangerous liaisons, challenging adventures, shocking realities and unexpected outcomes, interspersed with teenage insights into the state of the world, including war, crime, death and disease. As you travel with Troy on his one-year life-changing journey, you will undoubtedly laugh at the adolescent humour, cry at his misfortunes, sympathise with his plights and empathise with his feelings as he works through his personal traumas and is forced to learn by his mistakes. Be warned, however: those of a sensitive disposition may also be shocked by some of the diary’s content, possibly offended, but you are, after all, delving into the grimy mind of a pubescent youth!

Master storyteller Christopher Paul Curtis's Newbery Honor novel, featuring his trademark humor and unique narrative voice, is now part of the Scholastic Gold line! Elijah of Buxton, recipient of the Newbery Honor and winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. This edition includes exclusive bonus content!Eleven-year-old Elijah lives in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves near the American border. Elijah's the first child in town to be born free, and he ought to be famous just for that -- not to mention for being the best at chunking rocks and catching fish. Unfortunately, all that most people see is a "fra-gile" boy who's scared of snakes and tends to talk too much. But everything changes when a former slave steals money from Elijah's friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Now it's up to Elijah to track down the thief -- and his dangerous journey just might make a hero out of him, if only he can find the courage to get back home.