My Head Has a Bellyache: And More Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups

This hilarious follow-up to the New York Times bestselling poetry book I'm Just No Good at Rhyming is full of surprising twists of wit and wordplay that will have readers rolling on the floor laughing!

"Highly recommended, it gets 5 stars and 8 moons and a chef's kiss and a tip of the hat and a jump in the lake from me."--Bob Odenkirk, award-winning actor, writer, and comedian

I'm Just No Good at Rhyming is this century's most acclaimed comedic poetry collection so far, described as "a worthy heir to Silverstein, Seuss, and even Ogden Nash" (PublishersWeekly), "wildly imaginative...inspired and inspiring" (Kirkus), and as "everything a book for kids should be" (B.J. Novak). Now, Chris Harris delivers all that and more with dazzling new heights of creativity, kooky conundrums, witty wordsmithing, and of course, wacky laugh-out-loud fun!

There's a whole new cast of characters to meet, from the Nail-Clipping Fairy (who delivers teeth at night), to Orloc the Destroyer (who can be defeated only by his mommy), to the Elderly Caveman (who complains about the younger generation obsessed with playing with fire). There are more mind-bending verbal and visual riddles, plus there's plenty of hilarious hijinks hiding around every corner, whether it's a buffalo that escapes one poem and roams through others or a meteor threatening to land on the book and obliterate everything. There's even a mini book-within-a-book! In between it all, cartoonist Andrea Tsurumi's diverse range of exuberant people, creatures, and anthropomorphic objects ripple through the pages with playful energy.

If your head has a bellyache as you read this book, it will only be because you're laughing WAY. TOO. HARD!

Author: Chris Harris
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 07/18/2023
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.60lbs
Size: 9.10h x 7.40w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780316592598
Audience: Ages 9-12


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2023
Horn Book Magazine 07/01/2023 pg. 136
Booklist 07/01/2023 pg. 56
School Library Journal 07/28/2023 pg. 1
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2023 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style

About the Author
Chris Harris is the New York Times bestselling author of I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups, illustrated by Lane Smith; The Alphabet's Alphabet, illustrated by Dan Santat; and If You Laugh, I'm Starting This Book Over, illustrated by Serge Bloch. He currently serves as showrunner and executive producer for the new Frasier. Previous TV writing credits include How I Met Your Mother, Acapulco, and The Late Show with David Letterman. His pieces have appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and on NPR. He lives in Los Angeles.

Andrea Tsurumi (they/them) is the author and illustrator of Accident! and Crab Cake, as well as numerous comics. They also illustrated the Kondo & Kezumi series by David Goodner, Not Your Nest by Gideon Sterer, and Girls Who Code by Reshma Saujani. They were born and raised in New York, where they got an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and they now live in Philadelphia with their spouse and dog. When they'e not inventing croissant-based animals, they like reading about ordinary and ridiculous history.