In some email correspondence with Lenore Skenazy about her book Free Range Kids (that I reviewed here) she asked if I would also review Who's the Blonde that Married What's-His-Name? that she co-authored with Carol Boswell. I honestly didn't know what to expect, even after visiting the website. I expected a non-fiction type, give me information type book. What I got was TOTALLY different and in a good way! This book is so cool!

It's a game book, kinda like Mad-Libs but not at all. lol. Mad-Libs are those stories and paragraphs where you fill in a noun or a pronoun, adjective etc without knowing what the story is about and then you read it aloud and it's so silly that you are laughing hysterically and can't read the rest of the story. Well, this is kinda like that in that the blanks aren't parts of speech but rather phrases that come off the top of your head. You fill in the blanks using the other "clues" given under other blanks in the question. Trying to describe it is a little confusing even to me, but take my description and head on over to the book's website and it should all make sense.

The authors move on from that and include other types of "tip of your tongue" questions. "Take 10" is a list of ten clues that all have to do with the same topic. For instance, one "Take 10" is titled Flaming Redheads. So using the clues given, you come up with ten redheads. It's a lot of fun. And the topics cover everything from celebrities to spots stars, history to nature, kids stuff to food. The answers are in the back if you get stuck too.

This book is going in my bus for road trips and long waits while on the road. My dh and I read about 20 pages one evening; we were surprised at how well we answered the questions being that I'm not really a celerity buff and that's the section we chose. By the time we stopped our brains hurt. I don't mean that in a terrible way either. It's a good thing to work the brain muscle from time to time and this book does the trick in a fun and non-confrontational way.

About the authors, in true "tip of the tongue" style:

Carol Boswell and syndicated columnist Lenore Skenazy have collaborated on two previous books and have had more tip-of-the-tongue experiences than they care to mention. They live with their families in that big city with the statues of the lady and the building with the gorilla. Visit their website at www.whostheblondebook.com.

I received this book for review from the author.

You can buy this book at Barnes and Noble and Amazon and other book stores.

Written by LaDonna on Saturday, September 12th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Filed under Book Reviews, Carol Boswell, Posts By LaDonna, Who's The Blonde That Married What's His Name.
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