Andy Griffith Books

Having read the previous eight reviews, I'm not sure I can add a thing. But just can't resist adding my enthusiastic voice. Just a great book on several levels. Many many "home grown stories" which often led to my laughing out loud. But also a love of the local language and culture which shines through throughout. Just a really fine recollection of a life-long journey to capture and communicate the culture and environment he loves.

this is a brilliant book. I love the way Mitch tells a story. Ihaven' had this book long but I've already read it twice.

I recommend this book whole-heartedly to anyone who has ever been or known a hillbilly, or to anyone who is a wanna-be hillbilly, or to anyone who likes to snicker, chuckle, giggle their way through a very well-written and entertaining piece of word sketches that illuminate the whole Ozarkian mystique. A unique gift because it's a genuine conversation starter, and appeals to a broad readership. Love it!

This book was full of great stories and caused me to laugh so hard I had tears running down my face several times. This was unfortunate because I was on an airplane at the time and the people sitting next to me were trying to sleep. I didn't love the sections of the book where the author talked about his experiences with the Andy Griffith Show but other than that it was excellent.

Sure, Mark Twain was pretty good, but what's he done lately? The Greatest Living American Humorist (take that, Garrison Keillor!) you've never heard of is Mitch Jayne who, like Twain before him, is a Missourian and a storyteller par excellence. As a founding member of The Dillards, Jayne regaled bluegrass audiences with his country store brand of whimsy before "retiring" to a second career as a humor columnist for newspapers and magazines. The bedrock of Jayne's humor has always been his adopted home, the Ozarks, a region apparently supernaturally fertile for producing bushels of funny stuff. "Home Grown Stories..." is Jayne's autumnal harvest of a lifetime spent soaking up the peculiar language of a peculiar people in a peculiar land and his magician's trick of making you homesick for a place you've never been.

Jayne commences with his personal definition of the Ozarks in a brilliant passage that is as compact and elegantly pastoral as the lyrics he wrote for The Dillards' song catalog. It's the only serious prose in the book, after which Jayne whisks the reader to the funny stuff. The book's loose structure as a sort of reluctant autobiography allows Jayne to go off on as many storytelling detours as he is wont, and he is very, very wont. Just about EVERYTHING reminds Jayne of a funny story, and it's to his everlasting credit how seamlessly he works his bottomless pickle barrel of them into the narrative. Most of the stories are about real Ozarkians Jayne has known and, because they're an earthy people, he's occasionally obliged for authenticity's sake to use words never uttered in Floyd's Barber Shop. For the most part, though, Jayne keeps the ribaldry on a PG-13 level that won't do anyone any lasting harm.

Jayne describes Ozarkians as "...people who had little commerce with modern speech and liked their own better" and his love affair with Ozark English - surely an oxymoron - is writ large on every page. Ozarkians speak "Mother Tongue" (inherited language), which abounds in quaint, majestic words (countenance, blackguard) that have a distinctly Shakespearian ring to them and homemade sayings so rustic, they'd bewilder Snuffy Smith. Knowing how daunting the dialect is, Jayne has kindly included an Ozark dictionary to help readers decipher sentences like, "Some eats boughten vittles, but I always take a bait of dinner in a poke." Say what??

A raconteur as freewheeling as Jayne needs an illustrator of equal passion and versatility. In Diana Jayne, his wife and "other, wiser half," he has exactly that. Working in a variety of styles and mediums, Ms. Jayne's black and white drawings of everything from Andy Griffith and the Darling Boys to a killer ostrich (really!) and a hearing aid from hell (Jayne writes candidly about being "as deaf as a snake") are charming, funny and, sometimes, downright striking. Her portrait of Zeke Dooley, an uproariously colorful hillbilly character Jayne created for his wildly inventive "Hickory Holler Time" radio program (my favorite chapter), is a masterpiece truly worth a thousand words.

"Home Grown Stories..." is too dang much fun and contains too much plain-spoken wisdom to read just once "to beguile the time," as an Ozarker would put it. It's a book worthy of revisiting whenever you want to laugh or whenever you need to be reminded that, in this vale of dross and tears, "even a blind hog finds an acorn sometimes." Not to mention, it'd come in real handy if you ever got lost in the jillikins and benastied yourself.

* Ever made up an imaginary friend to beat up another imaginary friend?
* Ever taken a concrete garden gnome on a vacation with you?
* Ever tried to fill up an entire shower stall by plugging the drain?

This book is called Just Annoying. The author of this book is Andy Griffiths he has a whole series of these kinds of books, in each book there is a series of short stories .This book is about a boy named Craig. Craig likes to annoy his family and friends. In one of the short stories, Craig was on a trip and he made his dad so annoyed that his dad left him on the road alone, if you want to know if his dad came back or just left him there in the middle of nowhere, you have to read the book. Craig has a dad, mom, and a 16 year old sister. I like this book because I like to annoy my family and friends too and I recommend you to read this book. My opinion about this book is that it is hilarious and I am thinking of doing some of Craig's tricks.

Just Annoying by Andy Griffiths is the best annoying and silly book ever! It can entertain you big time. And it is actually my favorite free time book. This book is great for all sorts of stuff and times. It even has a quiz in the first page which can tell you how annoying you are, and whether you will like the book. When I started reading this book, I couldn't stop because of its extremely funny stories and picture stories (in the sides of the book pages). I just had to spend the 1½-hour to finish the book. It got me a lot of laughs and I always don't mind reading it over. It cheers me up so much on a sad day. In this hilarious book, there are stories about Andy and his annoying attempts to make everyone around him annoyed. It shows from Andy standing only in his sister's bra and his X-men undies in front of the whole school while pretending to be a girl, "I guess you probably have never had the experience of standing in your sister's bra and you X-Men undies in front of the whole school. And I don't recommend it either" to Andy crashing into the kitchen window of his house while trying to beat the fastest swinging on a clothesline speed "I'm flying through the air... Straight into the kitchen window! I'm wondering whether it's safer to crash through a window headfirst, or break it with a fist, Superman style. It really doesn't matter, I guess. If the window doesn't kill me, my parents will." Thankfully, this is not only one book, but comes in a series of just as silly books (Just Wacky, The Day My Butt Went Psycho, etc)! The fun never ends in these highly entertaining books!

It made me laugh when the parents made a mistake. The bike dude was cool when he made him jump.

If you love to annoy I really think that you should read this book. Or if you are being annoyed you can get back at that person thats annoying you by annoying them. If you read this book you can really, really learn a few tips on annoying. I really loved this book.

If you ask "Are we there yet?" on long car trips over and over again. If you like to drive people crazy by doing everything they do. If you use up each and every drop of hot water, while hogging the shower. If you ask ridiculous questions that have no answer as one of your hobbies? If you like swinging on the clothesline in secret when you get the chance. If you answer any of the questions "yes", this book is for you! This book will tell you nine out of many hilarious stories, of when Andy Griffiths annoyed many people in his childhood. This book includes 638 annoying pictures illustrated by Terry Denton.

Lots of good pictures and stories behind the filming of the show. If you are a fan of Andy Griffith, you can't go wrong with this book.

I've never seen such a great Mayberry book before!! It has many wonderful pictures, and tons of great history. I read this straight for around 3-4 hours, and it has great memories or the actors reminiscing... Ah, well, it's worth buying for the price, this book is worth it!! Very high quality.

I recently bought this book for my grandparents. It was such a joy to sit and watch them remember back on all the episodes they had watched. If you were a fan of the Andy Grifith show this is a must buy for you

This a very unique book on a unique show. It is not the usual Ken Beck and Jim Clark quote book with quotes taken directly from the show or text describing the characters or episodes. The text briefly describes each season and the rest of the book is filled with photos and quotes from the actors (many bit players), writers, producers, etc. The quotes range from talking about certain actors or scenes to behind-the-scenes tidbits and general feelings about The Andy Griffith Show. It reads like a scrapbook. Many of the photos I have not seen in any other TAGS book. There are a lot of behind-the-scenes photos. Some of my favorites show the cameramen, lights, and equipment as scenes were being filmed. There is also a cool aerial shot of the set of the Forty Acres lot in Culver City that was used for downtown Mayberry (p. 44). I also like the photos of TAGS memorabilia (TV Guide and comic book covers). The photos start with early publicity and scene shots from the pilot episode on The Danny Thomas Show and go on through all 8 seasons of TAGS, ending with photos and quotes on the spin-offs Gomer Pyle USMC, Mayberry RFD, and the 1986 reunion Return to Mayberry. Many people are quoted, but some of them include producer Sheldon Leonard, assistant producer Ronald Jacobs, music director Earl Hagen, Rance Howard, writer Jack Elinson, producer Aaron Ruben, Elinor Donahue, Margaret Kerry-Wilcox (played Bess Muggins and Helen Scobey), Joy Ellison (played Mary Wiggins, Opie's choice for Miss Mayberry), members of The Country Boys, Kit McNear (Howard McNear's son), James Best, Renee Aubry (choir member), Don Knotts, Julie Adams and Sue Ane Langdon (both nurse Mary Simpson), writer Harvey Bullock, Keith Thibodeaux (Johnny Paul), Jim Nabors, Jack Prince (Rafe Hollister), members of The Dillards (The Darlings) Mitch Jayne, Dean Webb, Rodney Dillard, Doug Dillard, their on-screen sister Maggie Peterson (Charlene), Bernard Fox (Malcolm Merriweather), Howard Morris (director as well as Ernest T Bass), director Earl Bellamy, Ron Howard, Clint Howard (Leon), Mary Grace Canfield (Mary Grace Gossage), George Lindsey, Betty Lynn, Hal Smith (on riding a cow), George Spence who was Frank the boyfriend in "Guest in the House" (there is an entire page on his memories of the show), Dennis Rush (played one of Opies pals, Howie Pruitt/Williams), Ruta Lee, Jack Dodson, Ken Berry, Paul Hartman's grandson Bill (one of my favorite quotes. He talks about how fans sent his grandfather Emmett radios and toasters to fix), Jack Dodson's widow Mary, associate producer Richard O. Linke, Arlene Gonlonka (Millie). Not an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. The quotes are all very positive. No bitterness in Mayberry.

My only qualm about the book is the lack of coverage of one of my favorite, and greatly unappreciated, characters Warren Ferguson. No Jack Burns quotes, I guess that is understandable. But beneath one of only three photos of him is the sarcastic caption: "Andy hires Floyd's nephew Warren Ferguson as Mayberry's new deputy, `know what I mean, huh-huh-huh?' (Please don't get him or us started)." Not keeping with the Mayberry spirit, in my opinion. Oh well, you can't have it all, I guess. The book ends with a very useful episode guide that includes a synopsis of each episode (some even include some extra tidbits or trivia) and guest characters with cast credits. It is an excellent addition to any TAGS fan's collection.

An excellent book and well put together. You will find amazing photographs of all the characters in the cast...and then some. One of the most interesting photos, in this book, is one of an ariel view of the Mayberry Town near Culver City, California. An actual town within a town.

I have read other books and also found them interesting with regard to the Andy Griffith show, but it was great to see all the pictures and read the personal comments of the stars and the people behind the scenes.

I believe that anyone , like myself, who really loved the show will enjoy this a great deal. Well done. This was one of my all time favorites shows and this book shows a lot of the people who made it such a great series.

This must have been one of the funniest books I've ever read. It has different stories about Andy Griffiths when he was a kid. All stories are about Andy playing practical jokes on his parents, his friends, and total strangers. You won't know what's funny until you've read Just Joking. It is extremely hilarious. One of the main reasons I liked this book is how fast it is. There wasn't a part in the book where I was bored. Andy Griffiths sure knows how to keep the reader just wanting to keep on reading. Just Joking is also a very easy book to read.

This book is intresting and funny.I would simply describe it as hilarious.I've read most of the "Just" books and all of the "butt" books.I recommend this book for kids of all ages.

I liked Just Joking because it was very, very funny. It's a whole bunch of very, very silly stories. He plays very good pranks on people, only most times he gets in trouble. One of the funny parts was when he wanted a milkshake, he wanted a chocolate milkshake, but instead of chocolate syrup, they used slugs! If you like practical jokes, this would be a completely excellent book for you. I would totally recommend this book.

Now I have read all the "Just" books, but I remember Just Joking the most. I was reading one of the funny stories in this book and I laughed so hard that I almost did the number one in my pants! I wish I could read more funny books from this author.

This book was so good! It was the most funny book ever made.when I sat down and started reading the book I coud not stop. I think the authours message was look on the bright side. So if you are looking for a good book read Just Joking.

I did not think I would like this book when I started it. but as I got into it I found it to be very interesting. I loved the story about the twins and just how easy going life was back then it is a shame it is not still like that! this book will take you back to a very simple time when andy was growing up. you will learn a lot about Mt Airy. which is very very much like mayberry. any mayberry fan would like this book.

I recently moved to Mount Airy, the fabled Mayberry, and wanted a resource to help me learn a little bit about the "lore" behind this community. This was an excellent resource and a fun read at that. For me, it helped bring to life not only the ties of my new hometown to the TV show, but also to learn a little bit of history about this community.

My wife just purchased this book for me and it was very interesting, especially being in the first person from Jewell. Brings back so many memories from my wife's family. I will be sending it to my 92 year old mother-in-law to read and I know she will enjoy it. Thanks, Jewell, good talking with you. Bill Tarpley

Hardly anyone who has been exposed to television over the last forty years has not come in contact with the good people of Mayberry. Walk up to most people on the street and ask them to name three justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and you just might get a blank stare. Ask the same person to name three residents of Mayberry, North Carolina and very few people will have a problem. Andy, Barney, Opie, Aunt Bea, Otis, Goober and Floyd have become so much a part of American culture that to most of us they are just like family. Mayberry is as real to most people as Chicago or Los Angeles and almost everybody knows that you have to go to Mount Pilot to get Chinese food.

Mayberry of course is not a real place but is instead a product of Andy Griffith's mind. Griffith's mind was however heavily influenced by his hometown and Mount Airy, North Carolina has become to most people, the real Mayberry. Jewell Kutzer grew up in Mount Airy and is just a few years younger than Andy. This book therefore, depicts on a very personal level the Mount Airy that has become America's most famous small town.

Many of the stories that are related in this book had a very obvious influence on the happenings in Mayberry. One story involves a young man who went on a small crime spree that included throwing rocks through most of the windows at the school. The authorities kept catching the young man but he would escape from jail almost as quickly as they locked him up. It all sounds a lot like Earnest T. Bass to me. If you remember Barney's very off key rendition of, "Welcome Sweet Springtime" you will not be surprised to learn that this song was a favorite of Andy's grammar school music teacher. Over and over, as one reads this book, they will be reminded of some happening in Mayberry.

There are many stories in this book that do not relate to Mayberry at all but are personal reminiscences of the author. At first I felt like these stories should not have been included since I bought this book to learn about Mayberry. As I read however, I changed my mind for these stories add greatly to the reader's ability to relate to life in a small southern town. Thank you Mrs. Kutzer for giving us all the chance to feel like we grew up in Mayberry just like you and Andy.

Thousands and thousands of us faithfully watched the television classic, The Andy Griffith Show and its sequel, Mayberry RFD. We followed Sheriff Taylor, Barney, Aunt Bea, and the rest through 249 episodes from 1960 through 1968. From 1968 through 1971, we were treated to 78 episodes of Mayberry RFD. Watching these shows today is a heartwarming nostalgic experience. Why, there's even an active The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club!

Mayberry has its roots firmly and deeply planted in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, a small town nestled in the mountains between Winston-Salem and the Virginia state line. Andy Griffith is celebrated there, along with all the traditions of hometown America, during community festivals and other events.

Jewell Kutzer grew up in Mayberry, just a couple of years behind Andy Griffith. She shares many of the memories that inspired Griffith to create Mayberry and the character of the popular television show. In Memories of Mayberry, she shares her experiences growing up in this now-famous small town. It's a pleasant, comfortable book to read, like having a conversation with a friend. Mt. Airy was a microcosm of life in a changing country, in a changing world. Lives were interwoven with the lives of others in the community. People were real, they were caring neighbors, they led simpler lives in the 1940s and 1950s. This book takes the reader back to those uncomplicated times.

Did I say uncomplicated? Well, compared to today's complex lifestyles. But for Jewell, growing up in a small town, life brought one adventure after another. Her tales of yesteryear are referenced to episodes in The Andy Griffith Show that relate to the memories. Readers will gain a deeper appreciation of how Griffith made the show so real in the earlier days of television.

Want a trip back to our roots? To the values on which our country was built? Pick up a copy of Memories of Mayberry to open your mind and heart to our wonderful past, not just in Mt. Airy, but in hundreds of other small towns across the land. Definitely designed for readers over 40 (we were there), but offers valuable insights for younger readers, too.

I haven't read this book before, but I heard from a friend that it was good. I did read The Day my Butt Went Psycho, and I now reading Zombie Butts from Urananus, both by Andy Griffiths, and both were terrific. So I know I am going to love this text. Andy Griffiths has a very good imagination, and his books are very funny. The plots are very good and easy to follow. His books are always very good.

Nathan Grzyb Rix (aged 7)

ok, I didn't read this for myself. But we have a nine year old and we are encouraging him to read. These BUTT books really got him interested ("wow, you gotta read this book" he tells me).

okay i have not actually read the book but i HAVE read the others . I loved those books! and if you liked the day my butt went phycho of zombie butts from uranus (i meant the planet) you are defiantly going to absoulutly love this book i know i will! SO GO TO THE CLOSEST BARNES AND NOBLE AND BUY THE BOOK!

I am 8 years old and I am in 2nd grade (my mom is typing this for me). I think this book is a very funny and interesting book. Yet I havn't yet figured out my favorite chapter, I still do like this book a lot.

If you want to buy this and you are over 13, it does have a warning that you should put it down because it has robo butts, butt guns, butts that come off of people, and great white butts. People might not get it very well, unless you're familiar with the other Butt Books written by Andy Griffiths.

It is very fun to read when you are 8 years old. It makes me laugh a lot when I read this book. I like it and I think you should buy it too.

Do you know who Andy Griffths is? If you read his books, then you'll definitly love this one. If you never read his book awnser the questions below:
You like really distgusting stuff like " super mutant zombie blowflies barf poo lord"
You like books which is really crazy like human travelling through a super robo-butt to 3000000000 years ago fighting a BUTT.
You abosuloutely looove butts.
If you awnsered "YES" to any of these questions, then this is the right book for you.
from,
A BUTT

I read this book from cover to cover today at work and being an "Andy of Mayberry" fan (and I love to cook, too), I found it delightful and typed 4 of the 'choicest' recipes. I'd love to own it and to give it to some special friends for Christmas, too.

This is a lovely publication, full of photos from the show and lots of great recipes. I collect cookbooks and this is now one of the "finds" of my collection. Thank you.

I bought the book thinking it was just a little "Andy Griffith" nostalgia, but was pleasantly surprised when the recipes were actually great! As a mother of 6, my family welcomed some new ideas for dinner (I welcomed that they were simple to make)! Also get "Aunt Bea's Delightful Desserts."

I took a walk down memory lane with Aunt Bee, Andy and Barney along with many other cast members! The wonderfully basic old-fashioned recipes brought back memories of simple times. The book is packed with black/white and color photos along with lots of dialog from the show which made me laugh and caused me to remember the episodes that I thought were long forgotten. The book has a table of contents each for Episodes and Recipes which made it easy to find whatever I was looking for. I am pleased that the recipes are simple and easy. Many of the recipes are created with basic ingredients that allowed me to use what I already had on hand in the pantry without running to the store to get a special ingredient and the results were scrumptious!

Being from a small town and now living away from it this book is like having my little aunties giving me their secert recipes... God rest their soul! I wish I had been old enough to ask them for them personally, but I found a lot of them in these two books. This is one of the two Mayberry cookbooks I own.

I purchased this cookbook out of the fondness I held for the television show and thought it would make a novel conversation piece when guests linger in my kitchen. Aunt Bee's Delightful Deserts has become an essential desert cookbook not only for my dinners but family gatherings, cookouts, and parties. Lorranie's Fudge has become a Christmas tradition! The photos from the television show with kooky captions along with the recipes make cooking from this book as delightful as Mayberry itself. A must for any cook.

This cookbook delightful to use and to peruse! It is a collection of 350 "small town" recipes from cast, friends and guest artists from the show. Trivia and snapshots are sprinkled throughout.

All the recipes I have tried in the cookbook have been very accurate. No missing ingredients. No temperatures wrong. The index is thorough: recipes by name and by major ingredient. The recipes are easy to follow and come out tasty too!

The names are unique: Remember Gomer telling Barney "Citizen's arrest!! Citizen's arrest!!" Well, "Citizen's Arrest Chocolate Cheesecake" would be worth a night in the slammer with Otis! It's that good!

Every recipe I have tried has become a favorite: "My Name Ain't Clem Applesauce Cake" "Wally's 7-Up(r) Pound cake" "Ellie's Apple Crisp"....

Delightful is right! For reading, cooking and eating!

I got this for my mother in law for Christmas and she loved it!

Andy Griffith created a small Christmas fable about a lonely man who is to have GOD to Christmas at his home. This tale touches the heart as well as the soul. On each page is a illustration reflection of Christmas.

Included in this package is a two cut CD. The first cut is Andy and a chorus singing "Go Telling on the Mountain". The second cut is Andy telling the story. It is a grandfatherly type narration

It is worth sharing on Christmas and all during the year

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

Just by reading this book, you'll know why The Andy Griffith Show is still on the air. He is such an awesome person and there are few like him in the entertainment industry.

What a delightful calendar. It brings back good memories of a simpler time.

MY HUSBAND LOVES ANYTHING ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW RELATED.SO i BOUGHT THIS CALENDAR IT HAS GREAT PICTURES THROUGH OUT AND IT HAS A COLORFUL BACKGROUND FOR A BLACK AND WHITE PICTURES.hE LOVES IT!!!!!