PRANKLOPEDIA

Practical jokers longing for a go-to source of ideas for low-effort pranks need look no further.

Advising readers to choose a victim “who has a sense of humor and can’t flunk you,” and also to “be funny, not mean,” Winterbottom offers over 72 smirk-worthy projects. These range from classics like poking a hole beneath the rim of a can of soda and short-sheeting a bed to slicing a banana without peeling it or creating a fake computer desktop. The entries are neatly alphabetized and interspersed with anecdotes about notable pranks and pranksters through the ages. All offer setup instructions and suggestions for enhancing the effects both verbally and, in Allen’s accompanying cartoon panels, visually. Pranks that will make an unusual mess or require adult cooperation are so flagged. Handy recipes include fake bird poop, edible (theoretically) dog poop, vomit, spilled milk, bloody teeth and two kinds of snot. The author also appends an array of faux can labels (“Cream of Sparrow”), fortune-cookie fortunes, signs, letters from school and other ready-to-use “goods” to cut out or reproduce.

Fun for some.