My Favorite Funny Story

Everyone has a funny story, an anecdote they like to whip out when it’s time to amuse. Here are some of the reminiscences, self-mythologizations, and gags spun by some of the 20th century’s most significant figures. Inside are the tales told by everyone from Pope John XXIII to Groucho Marx, John F. Kennedy to Yogi Berra, Albert Einstein to John Lennon. With about two hundred lively bits of humor, accompanied by dozens of Al Kilgore’s great caricatures, there’s a laugh any time you need one.Bill Adler was a genius of the book field, creating best sellers ranging from The Kennedy Wit to Who Killed the Robbins Family?

Al Kilgore was a lifelong cartoonist and caricaturist best known for his “Rocky & Bullwinkle” comic strip.

FanMail ’66

The year was 1966, and the world was going crazy over the wham-socko superhero action that had leapt out from the comic books and onto the TV. With the internet yet to be invented, the fans of the day turned to their stationary pads and whipped off letters to the hero and to those who told his story, sending praise, complaints, questions and requests to the TV show and to the comic books. Best-selling book creator Bill Adler sifted through the letters and came up with the funniest, putting them out in a paperback that still draws praise to this day. Michael Eury’s new book Hero-a-Go-Go! says it’s a “brisk but deliriously engrossing read” and “the ultimate feel-good book”. Chris Sims at ComicsAlliance.com has called it “one of the single best pieces of Bat-ephemera,” and Al Bigley of Big Glee! told readers to “get ready to laugh!” But sadly, the book has been out of print for about half a century.

If this were anything but a press release, the story would end right there. But lucky for you, dear reader, this is a press release and we do not do such things just to depress you. No! We do such things to get you to spend money, and toward that end we are announcing a brand new reprinting of the same ol’ book under a bold new title: FanMail ’66. Now you can thrill to those mirthful missives and crusading correspondence of yesteryear, and we can thrill to getting a share of the $9.99 it will cost you!

Bill Adler created collections of kids’ letters to presidents (About Comics has already reprinted his Kids’ Letters to President Kennedy and Dear President Johnson), campers’ letters home, and fans letters to the objects of their adulation, whether that be the Beatles, the Monkees, or the Mets. He hit best-seller lists with books ranging from a collection to JFK’s humor (The Kennedy Wit) to the whodunnit Who Killed the Robins Family?

FanMail ’66 (ISBN-13:  978-1-936404-71-1) is a 128 page black-and-white paperback, 5″x8″, with a cover price of $9.99.

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Dear President Johnson

Dear President Johnson coverWhat do you get when Bill Adler, creator of such best-selling books as The Kennedy Wit, teams up with Charles M. Schulz, creator of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the whole Peanuts gang, and they draw from the creativity of the millions of kids in America? You get Dear President Johnson –a collection of the letters kids sent to the White House, facing the President with their questions, their wishes, and their dreams. Originally published during the LBJ administration, this book has been brought back to print to delight a whole new generation.

List Price: $9.99
6″ x 6″ (15.24 x 15.24 cm)
Black & White Bleed on Cream paper
102 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1936404568
ISBN-10: 1936404567
BISAC: Humor / Topic / Political
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Kids’ Letters to President Kennedy

KidsJFKGenuine letters sent from the kids of the early 1960s to JFK show you the dreams, obsessions, and general attitude of America’s children. New York Times best-selling book creator worked with the White House mail department to find letters that were delightful, intriguing, and representative of the thousands of letters that would stream in each week. The book is augmented by dozens of delightful illustrations by Louis Darling, better know for this work on Beverly Cleary’s Beezus & Ramona books. Out of print for half a century, this book is now back in this paperback edition!

5″x8″, 162 pages, black-and-white on cream paper, list price $14.99 US.

This book is part of our Presidential Bookshelf line.

Order Kids’ Letters to President Kennedy from Amazon.com!

What to Name Your Jewish Baby

What to Name Your Jewish Baby

Are you going to have a Jewish baby, and do you need a name… or just some laughs? Then this book is for you!

New York Times best-selling book creator Bill Adler teams up with Mad Magazine‘s killer team of Arnie Kogen and Mort Drucker to deliver not only over 300 possible names for your little blessing, but also an explanation of what strange or interesting sort of person you’ll get if you give them that name! Peppered with more than 50 of Drucker’s great illustrations, this is perfect book to use as a gift, or to whomp spiders with! Just buy it!

6″x9″, 120 pages, black and white on cream paper, paperback, list price $9.99 US.

Order What to Name Your Jewish Baby from Amazon.com