Curious Pages

Georgie

2010-10-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bright, 1944

Guest Reviewer: LISA BROWN

For Halloween, another one of my earliest favorites.

“Up in the attic of this little house there lived a little ghost. His name was Georgie.”

I believe this started my as-yet-unrealized childhood wish to sleep in an attic. Note the jaunty buttons on Georgie’s ghostly shroud.

“Every night at the same time he gave the loose board on the stairs a little creak”

This house is Victoriana at its best. It’s the home of Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker, and Georgie’s gentle nightly hauntings helped to lull them to sleep. However, when Mr. Whittaker fixed the creaks and squeaks in the house, Georgie began to feel unwanted and had to leave.

But he was unable to find a new home that suited.

This drawing always scared me, for some reason.

“…each house already had a ghost.”

Finally, Georgie ended up in a barn until the passage of time and extreme weather re-creaked the Whittakers’ house. Only then could he move back in and resume his spectral duties.

“And Mr and Mrs. Whittaker knew when it was time to go to sleep again.”

There is something chilling about a drawing of a little ghost standing over the unsuspecting, sleeping Whittakers. It definitely makes me think about ghosts, and what they are actually supposed to be: um, dead people. So is Georgie a little dead boy? So how did he die? Why is he haunting that house? And what’s with the buttons?

CURIOUS COMMENT: For more Halloween fun, see Lisa's new book, VAMPIRE BOY'S GOOD NIGHT

Dillweed's Revenge

2010-10-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

By Florence Parry Heide and Carson Ellis, 2010

Here is Dillweed with his friend Skorped.

Dillweed never went anywhere.

He never had adventures.

He never had a good time.

WHY WE RECOMMEND THIS BOOK: debauchery, black magic, murder and inspired shenanigans throughout.

Expert artwork by Carson Ellis and classic storytelling by Ms. Heide.

And those names! Skorped! Umblud! Perfidia! Dillweed!

Read more about it from CARSON and FLORENCE.

LANE SMITH on It's a Book

2010-07-14T12:06:00.000-07:00

Time for another installment of

WHAT IN THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING?

Is it shameless to write about my own book?

Yes.

Lane, a book about a book, a pirate-loving monkey, a jackass of a jackass. . . just what in the heck were you thinking?

LANE RESPONDS: Books surround me in every room of my house.

Many of my favorites can be found on this very site. These are books which I revisit again and again. I like the way books look, feel and smell. I like the various editions and the various cover designs and redesigns.

I like arranging and rearranging books on my bookshelves.

In other words, I am a nerd.

Not to say that I'm not excited by the new technologies and reading devices introduced (it seems) nearly every month, I am. But I'm sure on some level I'll always be a traditional book guy. Then again I'm the kind of guy who still watches silent movies and listens to vinyl.

Unlike Grandpa (me), today's kids are whip smart and tech savvy. I know eventually everything will be digital and kids won't even know from a regular old book book and that's fine. Truthfully? The reason I made the book? Certainly not to "throw down the gauntlet" as one critic has stated. Naw, I just thought digital vs. traditional made for a funny premise. No heavy message, I'm only in it for the laffs.

My first version featured a kid. I dummied up some ruffs showing a dummy of a kid who doesn't know what this thing called 'a book' is. "What's this?" he said. The narrator answers, "It's a book," etc.

This dummy was closer in tone to something like The Stinky Cheese Man with the narrator undermining the kid with turn-the-page gags.

It seemed like a funny idea but in order for the premise to work the kid had to look goofy and I didn't want folks to think I was making fun of a child, even a goofy child. So like most of my book dummies I showed it to a few friends, friends whose opinions I have come to trust over the years. Among them my wife Molly who designed It's a Book and all of my books dating back to The Big Pets, and Bob, co-blogmaster of this site. As usual, Molly came up with a bunch of great ideas about type treatments and it was Bob's suggestion to make the characters animals.

I instantly thought of the Bros Grimm and their three character stories like The Straw, The Coal and the Bean or The Mouse The Bird and the Sausage (which I had illustrated for Marlo Thomas' Thanks and Giving treasury a few years ago). I thought, How about the Mouse, the Monkey and the Jackass?

The Mouse, The Bird and The Sausage from Thanks and Giving: All Year Long, 2004

The jackass is completely modern: He texts. He blogs. He tweets. He annoys. The monkey is traditional. He reads. He wants to be left alone. The jackass is relentless. “How do you scroll down?” he asks. “I don’t,” answers the monkey trying to read his pirate book. “I turn the page.”

“Does it need a password?” asks the annoying jackass.

“No, it’s a book.” Says the monkey.

I did the illustrations in brush and ink. I first tested the brush a few times on the edge of the page until the ink became desaturated enough for the dry brush effect I wanted.

I then created textures using oil paints on hot press illustration board. I sprayed them with an acrylic spray (water based) while the paints (oil based) were still wet. This caused a chemical reaction to the paint giving them a mottled look. I then scanned all into the computer and assembled the final illustrations in Photoshop for greater control. (Back in the day, precomputer, I would paint several pieces simultaneously. Some would get too texture-y and I'd chuck them, some would eventually turn out. Assembling them on the computer eliminates this tedium.)

Molly suggested making the monkey's forehead bigger. She says it brings out the maternal instinct in the reader (or something along those lines). I liked the look, I kept it.

I liked staging everything on the same, flat plane. Like a one act play. I believe it makes the humor more deadpan like in some of my favorite books.

Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must be More to Life by Maurice Sendak, 1967

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson, 1945

You know, the way Buster did it . . .

Keaton said the comedy works better when the audience can see the full body.

And what about that porkpie hat? The monkey in It's a Book wears one just like Buster.

So do the characters in some of my other books . . .

Madam President, 2008

Detail

Pinocchio the Boy or Incognito in Collodi, 2002

Squids will be Squids, 1998

The Stinky Cheese Man, 1992

THE JACKASS IN KID LIT

This is Curious Pages. I'd be remiss if I didn't briefly touch upon the jackass in children's literature.

I admit it, I am wholly unoriginal. A few forefathers . . .

Shrek by William Steig, 1990

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. This page is from Walt Disney's Pinocchio: A Read-Aloud Film Classic, 1982

Not a Jackass, a Monkey and a Mouse but An Ass, An Ape and a Mole by Aesop illustrated by Thomas Bewick, 1871.

And HERE - over twenty additional jackass tales from Aesop.

It's a Book . . .

it's one more to squeeze onto my shelves.

Big Rabbit's Bad Mood

2010-05-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

by Ramona Badescu and Delphine Durand, 2007

This is a very big rabbit with a very bad mood.

There it is on the sofa. The jerk.

The rabbit tries to get rid of the bad mood, but nothing works.
The bad mood keeps touching his stuff.

Rabbits friends drop by and they are all nicely designed.

Then they stuff themselves into his little house. It looks like a lot of fun.
I wish I lived there. Or had a summer house. Or a week long rental. In the off season because it's less expensive. It's still pretty I bet.

WHY KIDS WILL LIKE IT: The bad mood is a jerk, nice colors.
WHY GROWN UPS WON'T: Maybe they're in a bad mood themselves. Who knows with grown ups, they're always bent out of shape about something.

Making Picture Books is Fun

2010-05-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

By H.A. Rey, Young Wings (Junior Literary Guild), 1947

Making picture books is fun. Try it some day.

Elizabite

2010-04-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

By H.A. Rey. 1942

Written by H.A. Rey of Curious George fame, Elizabite tells the tale of a very hungry Venus Flytrap years before Little Shop of Horrors.

This book features lots of biting.

The memorable finale involves the near decapitation of a burgler.

A delightful read aloud for Earth Day.

RECOMMENDED.

Let's Take a Walk

2010-04-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

By Aaron Heller and Robert Deschamps, 1963

The subtitle of this book is A Story Told in Pictures but for the life of us we can't figure out what that story is. We sure do like Mr. Deschamps' pictures though.

Kashtanka

2010-04-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

By Anton Chekhov and Gennady Spirin, 1994

Guest Reviewer: GEORGE SAUNDERS

The story is simple: a dog gets lost, adjusts to her new home, is found by her old owners, goes happily back home. Like so much of Chekhov’s best work, it has the pace and emotional range of real life: no great villains, no great heroes, everybody trying to do his or her best. Neither master is an abusive brute. The dog is a small but pleasant part of both their lives. The first master is a woodcarver. The second trains domestic animals for a small-time circus act. The woodcarver is a bit cheap with the food, and stamps his feet now and then, but, in his favor, he has a son, and his house smells like woodshavings and glue. The animal trainer is a happy Falstaffian guy with a genuine affection for animals, who chomps a cigar, probably drinks a bit too much, has the occasional fling, when he can manage it, with the less-pretty of the three acrobats.

There is essentially no real drama. The dog will be fine either way, we sense. She is not traumatized by being lost – the way a dog would be in a lesser story, in which the writer would feel more compelled to anthropomorphize her – but adjusts quickly to the world in which she finds herself. Mostly, she smells things. There aren’t any bad smells, just less-interesting ones. Likewise, when her old owners come to the circus and reclaim her, she goes along happily, and by the time they reach home, she has all but forgotten her time with the circus, which “seemed no more than a long and confusing dream.”

Kashtanka is, it seems to me, the most accurately drawn dog in literature.

The emotional highpoint of the story – its great tragedy – is the quiet death of a goose. (This results in a haunting image of said goose, stretched out on a dimly lit wooden floor, eyes closed, the shadow of a window frame cutting across its long neck.) As the goose dies, the household cat comes to sit with the dog, “for the first time since they’d known each other.” The dog licks the cat’s paw and “without even asking why” the cat had come over, “began to whimper.” In the background of the illustration of the dying goose, we can see this pair. Are they bereft? No, this is Chekhov: they have nodded off to sleep.

Spirin is the perfect illustrator for Chekhov. His work is realistic and rich in detail (the book opens with three gorgeous though understated Moscow street scenes) but also allows for a bit of Dickensian exaggeration (in Kashtanka’s madly proud dog-grin, in the way the imagined detritus of the wood-carving life almost crowds the animal-trainer out of the frame as Kashtanka longs for these familiar smells of his old home). Spirin is particularly wonderful with faces: the woodcarver looks a bit like Tolstoy, if Tolstoy were poor and had a touch of poverty-induced meanness about him. The circus-master is overweight, jolly, has no anger in him, drinks too much, has (we posit) a ratty collection of sleeping gowns, of which he is inordinately proud. In the circus crowd that hands Kashtanka back to his real owners, we see: a burly Russian soldier, a rat-faced middle-class fellow (who I somehow know is both near-sighted and judgmental; a fan of whatever political theory is newest) and a pretty young woman, in a veil, rapt with emotion: she takes this incident as proof of certain romantic beliefs, i.e., in her world, lost dogs are always found.

Whenever I read Chekhov now, I picture the characters as Spirin might have drawn them: full of life, their spiritual attributes abundantly present in their faces.

These days, in my own work, I’m trying to strike a balance between the delights of realism (a bigger and more physical world, sensuality, verisimilitude) and those of a more exaggerative approach, an approach that comes more naturally to me and enables (in my work anyway) what feels like more ferocity and abandon, and a higher, darker type of truth. Reexamining this book has been interesting: Spirin seems able to have it both ways. He shows the (very real) scuffed boots of a musician in a Moscow regimental band, as well as a delighted-looking cat riding on the back of a nervous-looking goose riding on the back of a pig clearly beaming with pride.

Let's Tell a Fairy Tale

2010-04-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

By Frantisek Hrubin and Jiri Trnka, 1954

Genius animator Jiri Trnka was also an illustrator of children's books.

Let's tell a fairy tale of naughty kids . . .

and gluttons with blood on their cheeks . . .

and talking donuts in a time before Arnie.

Jiri was not only a master director and illustrator, he was also a master of the madcap mane . . .

The Light Socket™

The Mop-Top™

The Dirty Mutton™

More and More Ant and Bee

2010-04-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

By Angela Banner and Bryan Ward, 1961

There are MANY Ant and Bee books. Our FAVORITE is . . .

More and More Ant and Bee.

It is our favorite because our copy was so OLD that the pages fell OUT.

When we put them back we had a DIFFERENT story.

Cleanliness

2010-04-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

By Virginia Parkinson and the Sass-Dorne Studio, 1943

Starring Johnny Toothbrush.

And really, what is more fun than "cleanliness" . . . except maybe "obedience."

And don't forget that mani-pedi.

"I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart," said Johnny Toothbrush as he gave the kiss of death.

This Thumbprint

2010-04-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

by Ruth Krauss, 1967

Ruth Krauss, the gift that keeps giving. We just love her here at Curious Pages.

This could have been called How To Torture This Thumbprint.

This Thumbprint fell in the lake . . . where a catfish drew graffiti on its torso.

. . . when someone came along and threw a pie in his face. Yes, a big fat spider pie.

This Thumbprint found a poo.

WHAT DOES THIS BOOK TEACH? One needn't go to art school if one has a thumb and some ink.

ALSO SEE: Munro Leaf and Ed Emberley.

The Little Red Engine

2010-03-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

By Diana Ross and Lewitt-Him, 1942

The Little Red Engine was known only as number 394. Unlike the big black engine, "Pride o' the North" and the big green engine "Beauty of the South," 394 never went anywhere. Worse still, he had to listen to the constant boasting from the bigger engines.

Detail.

But one day there was an awful storm and a tree blew down and "Beauty" went crashing into it then "Pride" somehow derailed or something then suddenly there was this king and he needed to get back home immediately for important matters of state and there was only one little train who could get the job done and . . . oh, who cares about plot . . . can we just admire the gorgeous gouaches from the team of Lewitt and Him?

Throughout, the Little Red Engine repeats affirmations: "I can do it! I really can." And, "I'm sure I can!" These sound a lot less wishy-washy than that "I think I can!" business spouted by Watty Piper's Little Engine a few years earlier. ("I'm sure I can avoid litigation this way," thought Diana Ross.)

The Little Red Engine saves the day and is given the name, Royal Red. Now when the two bigger engines boast and brag, the little engine, by royal decree, can tell them, "Up yours."

But he doesn't. This is a kid's book.

WHAT DID WE LEARN? In picture books, the train with the cutest face always wins.

A Drop of Blood

2010-03-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

By Paul Showers and Don Madden, 1967

Lisa Brown is back with another curious recommendation:

Guest Reviewer: LISA BROWN

I have no idea where this book came from, but I am in love.

Don Madden illustrated about a gazillion other books, including tons about mathematics and my new favorite, Gravity is a Mystery. Paul Showers, who has a fantastic name, wrote 20 more books for the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out series.

A Drop of Blood was re-published like this, presumably to catch a ride on the vampire popularity wave.

In the first scene, our hero cuts his finger, apparently whittling. His dog is intrigued. Who gives a kid a knife?

"When you cut yourself, you make a hole in your skin.

Blood leaks out through the hole.

If the cut is small, it soon stops bleeding."

Which begs the question: How large does the cut have to be to bleed without end?

The dog seems delighted that the boy got bonked in the nose. And now, we inexplicably turn to verse:

"Oh there's blood in your arms and your legs,

There's blood in your fingers and toes,

And once in awhile

When a game gets too rough,

You'll find that there's blood in your nose."

Here is a design for my new favorite wallpaper pattern. The composition is gorgeous.

Here we get a bloody knee and a lesson about scabs. Yum! Don't pick your scabs, kids!

And we're back to rhyme:

"Sometimes I cut my finger,

Sometimes I scrape me knee.

Sometimes a drop or two of blood

Comes dripping out of me."

"'Pure poetry,' says the vampire, licking his lips." I made that part up.

Jon-Jon and Annette

2010-03-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

by Elzbieta, 1993

A book about war. And bunnies!

Adorable.

Total buzzkill, Dad!

Jon-Jon said, "I'm going to the brook to play with Annette." . . . But where the brook once was, there was now a thornbush.

Well, somebody got a lucky rabbit's foot.

All of a sudden, [Jon-Jon] heard Annette calling him . . .

[Annette] had made a little hole in the thorns and crossed over to the other side of the brook.

And was immediately shot.

(Just kidding. They probably lived happily ever after.)

David's Little Indian

2010-03-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

by Margaret Wise Brown and Remy Charlip, 1956

This tiny book fits in your hand like the little Indian on the cover.

Our favorite Margaret Wise Brown story and another top-notch illustration treatment by Charlip.

And to make certain he was real, the little boy pushed him...

"What day is it?" asked the boy.

...the little Indian answered, "...Day of the first nut that fell... Day of the little blue dish... Day of the cold nose..."

FAVORITE LINE: "Day of the dreary grown-ups."

Blood mingling. Probably not a good idea.

In our inscribed copy, Mr. Charlip gives us the original title.

Brave Potatoes

2010-03-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

by Toby Speed and Barry Root, 2000

Guest Reviewer: PHILIP NEL

A book starring potatoes illustrated by Barry Root. Yep, that's really his name.

Potatoes never sleep. Potatoes have no eyelids.

Cruelty to vegetables!

Chef Hackemup is one crazed vegetable-killer. Will nothing stop him?

Potatoes, nature's daredevils.

FAVORITE LINE IN THE BOOK: But potatoes never listen. / Potatoes have no ears.

See, ma, it's just like I told you: These vegetables are revolting.

Gives a whole new meaning to, "I'll have the chef's special."

Vegetables of the world, unite!

Vive la revolution!

No chefs were killed in the making of this book. See? He's just a little wet. The soup was merely damp, and not boiling hot. You didn't really see clouds of steam a few pages back. That was just your imagination. Honest.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Confirms their suspicions about vegetables.

The Monkey in the Rocket

2010-03-12T09:42:00.000-08:00

by Jean Bethell and Sergio Leone, 1962

We thought in 1961 Sergio Leone was consumed with finishing touches on his directorial debut, The Colossus of Rhodes, but apparently he also found time to clock in some hours at Wonder Books illustrating classics like The Monkey in the Rocket.

Sam and Bam are very special monkeys. Let's see which one we can make sick first.

Congratulations Bam, you win. You get to stay home. Sam, you'll be harnessed into an untried hunk of metal and shot into space. Good luck.

Up goes Sam.

Down comes Sam.

Hooray.

"Hooray for Sam!" say the men. "Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!"

Or as J.Otto Seibold reimagines the scene . . .

WHO WILL ENJOY THIS BOOK? Any child who is excited about the current U.S. vs. Soviet space race.

ALSO RECOMMENDED: Monkey Business by J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh (1995) and Space Monkey by Olive Burt (1960).

After the flight a famous lady poses for the newspapers. And Space Monkey too.

Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book

2010-02-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

by Shel Silverstein, 1961

Practical advice for toddlers and young children in the form of an alphabet book.

WHAT DOES THIS BOOK TEACH? The alphabet, spelling, counting, potty training, ink drinking, scotch tasting, spitting, yelling, egg throwing, fire starting.

Uncle Shelby on the Johnny Cash Show. . .

FLORENCE PARRY HEIDE on the Treehorn trilogy

2010-02-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

Today we introduce a new segment to Curious Pages. We call it:

WHAT IN THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING?

First up, the legendary Florence Parry Heide. Ms. Heide is the author of over one hundred books for children. Some of her titles include: Fables You Shouldn't Pay Any Attention To, Grim and Ghastly Goings-On, Tales For the Perfect Child, Princess Hyacinth: the Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated and the forthcoming Dillweed's Revenge (A Deadly Dose of Magic) illustrated by Carson Ellis.

Arguably, her most famous books are those from her Treehorn trilogy illustrated by Edward Gorey. Unlike many picture books from this era, these books were odd, deadpan, surreal and sophisticated. So we ask: Florence, just what in the heck were you thinking?

MS. HEIDE RESPONDS: I remember the way it was, way-back-when. And when exactly was way back when? 1970. (This is about THAT time and then I expect I'll just keep typing away as I think other things...) Wasn't it just yesterday? I'd had many rejections, but look! I'd sold a few books, too. My first book, MAXIMILIAN, for example, after sixteen rejections. Sixteen!

So the fact that THE SHRINKING OF TREEHORN had been turned down a few times was not

dismaying to me. But wait a minute! Look what's happening! It's been accepted, by Holiday House! That by itself was enough to make my head spin, but now look: Edward Gorey was to be the illustrator! Edward Gorey, whose work I had so admired, was to illustrate one of my books!

And now: I was to meet him. I, Ms Plain Vanilla, was to meet the famous and fabulous Edward Gorey: John Briggs of Holiday House had so arranged. We were to sign copies of the newly published THE SHRINKING OF TREEHORN.

And there he was: be still my heart. He asked me to call him Ted. Edward Gorey asked me to call him Ted! He gave me a beanbag frog he'd made on which he'd stitched: I have turned green.

We were instant friends, lifelong friends. Each time I came to New York, and in those days I was a frequent visitor, we would see each other, have lunch, talk. And talk.

Would I write a Treehorn sequel? Oh, good, of course: TREEHORN'S TREASURE. He loved it. John Briggs loved it. And each time Ted (!) and I saw each other, he assured me that he'd start working on it very soon.

Very soon turned out to be nearly ten years.

But the moment it was published, he asked me to write a third Treehorn. What? and wait ten years? No, no. He promised that if I would write it, he would start and finish it immediately. So: I did and he did. And now we had TREEHORN'S WISH.

He had felt that with three Treehorns an animated feature would soon follow. Sorry about that, Ted, but: never say never.

See? once I start thinking of him I can't stop. Those were wonderful times. I used to stay at the old Royalton, which was not at all like the new Royalton. It's across from the Algonquin. He still lived on 38th Street. He'd come over and we'd walk to lunch. He walked everywhere. And we'd talk. And talk. We'd planned to write a murder mystery play with my brother, David, an Agatha Christie kind of play- and --

You've seen pictures of him . . . very tall, a white beard, wonderfully blue, blue eyes that really DID twinkle - blue jeans, sneakers, and although he used to wear fur coats he stopped doing that out of reverence for animals. He told me, though, that he'd saved them all, had put them in storage, he had loved those fur coats.

Oh, I was to tell you how I thought of the story of Treehorn? . . . this is how it was---

I was ready to write another story and was sitting at my typewriter ---but look at the time! it's nearly noon, and my five children would be rushing in for lunch any minute now--in those days, kids came home from school for lunch. So I was rushing to fix something for lunch when: in they came.

"Can Mike come for dinner tonight, could you call his Mom right now?"

"Look, I skinned my knee, I need a bandaid!"

"I have to have a quarter for class dues!"

And more. And all at once. And I realized that I was saying "That's nice, dear," to each one. And then I thought that I'd probably been saying that every day for ever and ever. And because I had been looking for an idea for a new book, I thought what about a mother who keeps saying That's nice, dear, no matter what's happening. So: something really surprising happens to a boy and his mother just keeps saying things like, That's nice, dear. What might that surprising thing be?

That afternoon a neighborhood boy came to the door. I hadn't seen him all winter, and I found myself saying, "My, how you've grown, Richard!" and then I thought: Oh, for heavens sake, of COURSE he's grown, don't sound so surprised. Surprised would be if he'd grown smaller.

So I wrote THE SHRINKING OF HAROLD.

I'd just finished it when my mother came over for coffee. She was always interested in what I was writing, so I handed it to her to read. She liked it, but said, "But why do you call him Harold, dear? That's a nice name but the other names you've used have been more. . . dashing."

I thought of that as we visited: she'd had lunch with Mrs Hale and Mrs Afton and Mrs Treehart and-- Treehart, Treehart. What about: Treehorn? So Treehorn he became.

I was telling that story to a third grade class one day and a boy asked, "So then why didn't you dedicate the book to that Mrs. Treehart?" . . .

Why indeed.

Cinderella

2010-02-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

by Dick Bruna, 1966

Here's a title from "Miffy" creator Dick Bruna.

Mr. Bruna was influenced by the De Stijil design movement. De Stijil is a Dutch word meaning “home at a reasonable time.”

It's hard to see in this photo, but just to the left of the girls is a scary lion or an explosion. It's a wild ride, this one.

The addition of a magic pigeon keeps him from getting sued by Cinderella's original writer, Walt Disney. Don't worry, I don't think he's very litigious.
You might be hearing from Mo Willems though.

This is where the story really cooks. They're gonna be sore tomorrow from all that dancing.

Watch out! This charming story is turning into a white knuckle, full-throttle thrill ride thanks to some well timed pointing.

HA! Screw you!

Isn't that the sweetest thing you have ever seen? Really.

WHY KIDS WILL LIKE IT: Adrenaline rush, charming

How to Make an Earthquake

2010-02-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

by Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson, 1954

Was Ruth Krauss balmy? YES.

Read on:

How did she do it?

Read on:

Classic Provensen

2010-02-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

We think Alice and Martin Provensen were the greatest husband/wife illustration tag-team ever. They could do it all from animal stories to folk tales to biographies. What made them unique was that each of their books had its own distinct style appropriate to the tale they were telling, yet no matter how different the style it was always, unmistakeably, a Provensen.

Some of our favorites are the classics.

The Golden Treasury of Myths and Legends, 1959

Endpapers.

Shakespeare:Ten Great Plays, 1962

Endpapers.

The Iliad and the Odyssey, 1956

Endpapers.

Title page.

In future posts we will showcase a portfolio of the Provensens stylized, humorous illustrations from The Animal Fair, A Child's Garden of Verses, etc and folk tales such as A Visit to William Blake's Inn and Little Golden Book titles like the classic, The Little Fat Policeman.

The Bomb and the General, The Three Astronauts

2010-02-16T11:32:00.000-08:00

by Umberto Eco and Eugenio Carmi, 1989

Both released in the U.S. in 1989, translated by William Weaver.

The Bomb and the General

WHY WE RECOMMEND THIS BOOK: What child doesn't enjoy a good anti-war parable?

The text reads, When atoms are in harmony everything works fine. Life is based on this harmony. But when an atom is smashed its parts strike other atoms which then strike still more atoms, and so on. . . A terrifying explosion takes place! This is atomic death.

OUR FAVORITE BIT comes after the atoms have foiled the general's nefarious scheme: And what about the general? Now that there were no more wars, he was fired. And to make use of his uniform with all the braid, he became a hotel doorman.

The Three Astronauts

WHY WE RECOMMEND THIS BOOK: What child doesn't enjoy a good anti-prejudice, intergalactic parable?

Three astronauts, an American, a Russian and a Chinese take off from Earth.

After overcoming initial prejudices against each other, the astronauts then have to overcome an all-consuming Martian prejudice.

OUR FAVORITE BIT: . . . the Earthlings thought that anybody who was ugly was also bad. So they decided to kill him with their atomic disintegrators.

SECOND FAVORITE BIT: The Earthlings had learned their lesson by now: Just because two creatures are different they don't have to be enemies. So each went over to the Martian with his hand extended. And since the Martian had six, he could shake hands with all three men at once and, at the same time, he could wave joyfully with his other hands.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Eugenio Carmi's inventive collages. Who else would think of portraying an American astronaut with a Chiclets wrapper?

The Fabulous Firework Family

2010-02-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

by James Flora, 1955

The wonderful story of Pepito and his family, the fabulous Firework Family, who have been asked by the mayor to construct "the very tallest, the very widest, and the very finest firework castle ever built by mortal man" for a village festival.

But that's not the only story. This book also works as a "Where's Waldo?" type game.

Ascher Silberstein Elementary liked this book. A lot. At least until they discarded it. See if you can find their name stamped on every single page. It's fun!

Find it yet? It's right there in the middle of the composition.

How about here? See it? No? It's on his foot.

And hand.

Of course you don't have to play. You can simply enjoy the fabulous art of Flora.

Snoopy and "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night"

2010-02-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

by Charles M. Schulz, 1971

First we get the backstory. A beagle named Snoopy (no last name is given) writes the great American novel.

We follow him from the first sentence up through the submission process and ultimately the publication of his book, It Was a Dark and Stormy Night.

Midway through the book, the paper stock changes from sunny matte construction paper to a serious semi-gloss when we are presented with Snoopy's novel, a book-within-a-book. Pretty postmodern stuff.

The cover illustration is by one Lucy Van Pelt in a style reminiscent of outsider artist Henry Darger.

The sparse text reads like a riddle.

The jacket flap depicts not the author but a plush doll doppelganger. Is this the author's not-so-subtle comment on the commercialization of his likeness or simply more postmodern shenanigans from Mr. Snoopy?

The book shifts gears a final time detailing the post-publication process: dismal reviews and feebly attended book-signings.

The whole business ends on a downbeat note. Just like real life.

FOR MATURE CHILDREN ONLY.

The Story of the Nostrils

2010-02-05T10:31:00.000-08:00

by Genichiro Yagyu, 1981

We think The Story of the Nostrils is best if you can't read Japanese. This way you can make up your own text.

Everybody has nostrils.

Where can I stick these chopsticks?

I sleep with rabbits.

Gorillas do not make mucous. They make milk.

I have torn away the lower portion of my face so you can better understand the olfactory process.

The Lonely Doll

2010-02-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

by Dare Wright, 1957

Guest Reviewer: LISA BROWN

My absolutely favorite book as a child, bar none. Photographs are creepy, dolls are creepy, the story is completely creepy.

Edith, the lonely doll, is lonely. Her loneliness is assuaged by the sudden and unaccounted for appearance of Mr. Bear and Little Bear.

"Then one morning Edith looked into the garden and there stood two bears!"

Almost immediately, the bears seem, at least to me, to be a little TOO friendly. Look at them holding her down with their paws.

"From then on Edith was never lonely again."

I detect a degree of inappropriate touching.

Though the scene on the Brooklyn Bridge is nothing but gorgeous.

One day, when Mr. Bear leaves Edith and Little Bear home by themselves, they decided to play dress up.

Edith seems inordinately fond of prancing around in her skivvies.

They get caught using lipstick and trying on grownup clothes (to whom do they belong? Mr. Bear? It's never discussed.)

The punishment, much to my endless delight, is a spanking.

The mirror says: "Mr. Bear is just a silly old thing." The gall!

But it all turns out OK, in the end. Look how contrite Edith is. Almost as if she ENJOYED the spanking. Mr. Bear solemnly promises to stay with Edith forever.

WHY PARENTS WILL HATE IT: Corporal punishment and little girl panties = creepy.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Hmmmm... well, I liked all that creepiness as a child.

The Chas Addams Mother Goose

2010-02-01T06:37:00.000-08:00

by Charles Addams, 1967

Children of all ages will delight in these playful, uplifting nursery rhymes illustrated by Mr. Addams.

WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR? We recommend this cheerful book to everyone - toddlers, church groups, or anyone who needs a lift.

It Happened in Pinsk

2010-01-30T10:09:00.000-08:00

by Arthur Yorinks and Richard Egielski, 1983

Curious reader Ingrid Haftel suggested It Happened in Pinsk might make a nice addition to our ever growing HEADLESS section. We agree.

On Nevsky Avenue, Maurice Sendak yearns to be "a Somebody like Kaminski the wrestler or wealthy Belcheck."

Life changes quickly for Mr. Sendak when his head disappears and he is forced to scavenge trashcans.

Events turn from bad to worse when Sendak is kidnapped and forced to eat with Heidi and Brezhnev.

Thankfully Sendak locates his head which is great news for music fans everywhere. The next year, 1984, he would create an opera based on one of his best books, Higglety, Pigglety, Pop! . . .

thus becoming a Somebody.

Puff

2010-01-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

by William Wondriska, 1960

Puff by the wondrous Wondriska employs a common theme in children's books: a neglected object/toy/character/animal is called to duty when the chips are down. In this case, an antiquated steam engine, vs. a defective circus train in a snowstorm.

At first read the story may not be as moving as Maira Kalman's Fireboat or as universal as Robert L. May's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or even Walsh and Seibold's Olive, the Other Reindeer but the telling of this tale is in the graphics. Noted Professor of Graphic Arts, Shahn Bushmiller Bass states, "Graphics, an important and powerful form of storytelling in juvenile fiction, chapbooks, primers, etc., are quite often neglected and or misunderstood not only by the reading public at large but by the academia rank and file as well." We are not sure what that means. All we know is Puff has nice graphics.

WHY DO WE RECOMMEND THIS BOOK? Graphics.

WHAT SHOULD READERS LOOK FOR? Graphics.

WHAT DOES THIS BOOK TEACH? Graphics.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS BOOK? Children. And graphic designers. And children of graphic designers.

Why is it the most innovative of children's books are always the first to go out of print? All of Mr. Wondriska's wonderful books are unavailable.

Train track endpapers.

The Stupids Die

2010-01-27T06:45:00.000-08:00

by Harry Allard and James Marshall, 1985

Sometimes all one needs is a great title.

"That's the only thing I truly envy Jim for. Deep envy. I think The Stupids Die is the best title ever. . ."

–– Maurice Sendak

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: it has "stupid" and "die" in the title.

WHY PARENTS WILL HATE IT: it has "stupid" and "die" in the title.

I Want to Be a Mechanic

2010-01-25T13:58:00.000-08:00

by Carla Greene and Mary Gehr, 1959

"It's a beautiful day," said Mother. "Can we go on a picnic?" asked Jack.

Not if Father has anything to do with it.

Boy, Father really likes to talk about machines.

Wheels, levers, poles, carts. . .

windmills, old mills. We get it Dad, you like machines.

"On the way home"?! What happened to the picnic? We feel the author is missing a really great opportunity to get away from machines for a few pages here.

Now Dad is trying to distract us from the missed picnic with even more wheel and lever talk.

One Day Jack said, "I want to be a mechanic."

"You will make a good mechanic some day," said Mr. Tom.

Right, but it's no picnic.

Turns out the book is nothing more than propaganda for the working masses. No wonder it's so red.

The Wizard of Oz

2010-01-21T12:07:00.000-08:00

by L. Frank Baum and Graham Rawle, 2008

Ever wonder what it would be like if Jan Svankmajer made a children's book? No? Never? Well, we do. All the time. So imagine our excitement when our pals over at Greasy Kid Stuff turned us onto Graham Rawle's twisted take on The Wizard of Oz.

This book is big and heavy too. We didn't have a scale handy but we'd guess it's a good 10 or 30 pounds easy. If you dropped it on a witch? You could kill her.

296 lavishly illustrated pages. The writer is pretty good too.

Petunia

2010-01-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

by Roger Duvoisin, 1950

This is a good example of how life SHOULD work. It never does because everyone is dumb and doesn't listen when I, uh, people say how smart they are and how they should be the boss.

Petunia is smart. She has a book!

She starts telling people what to do and solving all their problems. They believe her because, well, she has a book. It only stands to reason.

I guess it's a book called AMATEUR DENTIST, because she suggests pulling all the horses teeth. The horse runs away. Stupid horse! Don’t you see the book?

Then some other stuff happens.

The best is when she convinces the animals to eat fireworks. She is very smart.

Then she learns a lesson or something. We pretty much stopped reading here.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Class C explosives. Really, really smart ducks who you can learn from.

Emergency Mouse, Inspector Mouse, Quasimodo Mouse

2010-01-18T09:52:00.000-08:00

By Bernard Stone and Ralph Steadman, 1978, 1980, 1984

Fear and Loathing illustrator + children's books = Edu-tainment.

The stories are fine but the reason to pore over this Mouse series of books is the artwork of Ralph Steadman, influential gonzo artist and noted pirate.

His old pal, Hunter S. Thompson (always a favorite with the younger set) makes a couple of cameos...

Not since Jackson Pollock has an artist done so much for the splatter, the smudge, the inkdrop. A few years ago Mr. Steadman signed our copy of Sigmund Freud. It's hard to tell where the printed book ends and his inscription begins. . .

Tooters, Tweeters, Strings and Beaters

2010-01-14T13:11:00.000-08:00

By Allen L. Richardson and Art Seiden, 1964

Guest Reviewer - Maurice Cooney, age 9

WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR? Awesome people like me who are in Band.

I WAS EXCITED WHEN: I saw the WOOD BLOCK, my instrument. Take that Marci!

THE BEST PART WAS WHEN: Jumpy the Rabbit played the trumpet. I didn't know rabbits cared for brass instruments.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THIS BOOK? The poem about Marci's instrument, the RECORDER, was kind of lame.

DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING ELSE? It's really hard to come up with a poem about the TRIANGLE.

IF THERE IS ONE THING YOU COULD TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS BOOK WHAT WOULD IT BE? Looking at the endpapers... playing music makes you go blind.

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THIS BOOK? The WOOD BLOCK is a legitimate instrument. Are you listening Marci?

Mother Goose's Melodies

2010-01-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

Munroe & Francis, 1833. Dover facsimile edition, 1970

Pound us with a stick and a certain finger we'll be a' showin' you too.

Delightful poems of beatings, drownings, burnings, decapitations.

RECOMMENDED AGES: Pre-K and younger.

Boners, More Boners, Still More Boners and the Pocket Book of Boners

2010-01-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

by Alexander Abingdon and Dr. Seuss, 1931

Boners and More Boners, "being a collection of schoolboy wisdom, or knowledge as it is sometimes written, compiled from classrooms and examination papers" are the first books featuring the unmistakable work of Dr. Seuss.

The editor, Alexander Abingdon, does not exist. The name was added as a place-holder by the manufacturing manager of the Viking Press and was due to be replaced by a "big name" when one was found to write the introduction. One was not found in time and they forgot to remove the name. Ironically, the good doctor himself would become the Biggest Name in books in just a few years.

The third book in the series, Still More Boners was illustrated by Virginia Huget . . .

with content that was somewhat questionable for a book with a classroom theme.

No wonder you're ostracized! More Boners!

The Man Who Lost His Head

2010-01-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

by Claire Huchet Bishop and Robert McCloskey, 1942. NY Review Book edition, 2009

To the Headless Section of the Curious Pages Library we add to our old edition, this new addition . . .

elegantly designed by Louise Fili.

Once upon a time there was a Man who lost his head begins this tale by Bishop (The Five Chinese Brothers) and McCloskey (Make Way for Ducklings).

The appeal of the text is that this affliction is never explained.

In an attempt to locate his head the unfortunate title character retraces his steps from the day before but comes up empty handed and empty headed. Even the Village People are of no help.

The Man dons a pumpkin head, a wooden head, even a parsnip head in the above Charles Burnsish-looking illustration.

Finally a "kind-hearted and very bright boy" has an idea. "Ready, sir?" he asks. "Why yes!" says the Man. "What on earth are you going to do?"

Punch him as hard as he can of course. When the sharp pain and stars clear, the man is back in his own bed with his own head. The end.

WILL CHILDREN LIKE IT? Oh yeah.

The Dead Bird

2010-01-04T09:31:00.000-08:00

By Margaret Wise Brown and Remy Charlip, 1958

Once again, the great Remy Charlip brings what could be a maudlin subject to life. So to speak.

WHAT DOES THIS BOOK TEACH CHILDREN? Role playing. WHAT ELSE? How to deal with the loss of a pet. At least"until they forget..."

TEACHER ACTIVITIES: Ask children what other things might be fun to bury. How about Mommy's furs? They look just like dead animals.

Grammar Can Be Fun

2009-12-30T14:12:00.000-08:00

by Munro Leaf, 1934

This title by Ferdinand author Munro Leaf makes grammar so fun that you pass out or die.

These are the end papers. Mr. Leaf drew them while chatting on the phone. Probably on a napkin or the back of his cable bill.

Good advice for when Abe Lincoln asks you how you feel. He’s nice like that.

At the end of the book Mr. Leaf invites the reader to write a bunch of stuff in the the back of the book.

The previous owner took him up on it. A lot. There are like six pages like this. Mostly drawings of ladders and random scribbles.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Abe Lincoln, wobbly necks, a big spider

Winter Blast!

2009-12-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

Presenting some of our favorite wintry images for this holiday season . . .

John Leech - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843

Denver Gillen - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May, 1939

Ruth Gannett - Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, 1946

Jean Charlot - Two Little Trains by Margaret Wise Brown, 1949

Crockett Johnson - Harold at the North Pole, 1957

Carl Hanser - Das Hexen-Einmal-Eins, 1998

Robin Mitchell and Ruth Steedman - Snowy and Chinook, 2005

Nickolaj Tyrsa - The Snow Book by Vitaly Bianki, 1926

Remy Charlip - David's Little Indian by Margaret Wise Brown, 1956

Gyo Fujikawa - The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, 1961

J.Otto Seibold - Olive, the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh, 1997

Ludwig Bemelmans - Parsley, 1953

M.B. Goffstein - Our Snowman, 1986

Lane Smith - Pinocchio the Boy (or Incognito in Collodi), 2002

Ennio Di Majo - Piccoletto by Renato Rascel, 1958

Uri Shulevitz - Snow, 1998

Sam Berman - Pixie Pete's Christmas Party, 1957

Harry McNaught - The Road to Oz, 1951

Harry McNaught - The Tin Woodman of Oz, 1952

Henrik Drescher - Looking for Santa Claus, 1984

Rnold Kohn - The True Book of Holidays by John Wallace Purcell, 1955

J.P. Miller - Jingle Bells by Kathleen N. Daly, 1964

Elizabeth Enright - Kees by Marion King, 1930

Petra Mathers - Herbie's Secret Santa, 2002

Lewitt-Him - The Little Red Engine Gets a Name by Diana Ross

Dr. Seuss - study for Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! 1975

Raymond Briggs - The Snowman, 1978

George De Santis - The Littlest Snowman by Charles Tazewell, 1955

Ezra Jack Keats - The Snowy Day, 1962

Roy McKie - Snow by P.D. Eastman, 1962

Patrick McDonnell - South, 2008

Vladimir Radunsky - The Story of a Boy Named Will by Daniil Kharms, 1993

Marc Simont - The Happy Day by Ruth Krauss, 1949

Once Upon a Wintertime from Walt Disney's Classic Storybook, 2001

Thomas Nast - Twas the Night Before Christmas, 1865

Jozef Wilkon - The Story of the Kind Wolf by Peter Nickl, 1982

One Thousand Christmas Beards

2009-12-20T10:03:00.000-08:00

by Roger Duvoisin, 1955

Santa loses it. Nicking one thousand beards from one thousand St. Nicks, Real Santa declares, "Am I angry! . . . I'll put an end to those false Santas! There is only one Santa Claus, and that's me!"

Santa's scalping spree eventually ends when Mrs. Santa asks, "Did you kill all the false Santas who wore those false beards?"

"No, I didn't," said Santa, "but I put an end to their trying to look like me."

Duvoisin's lovely linework is featured on the endpapers. . .

and title page.

The Night Before Christmas

2009-12-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

By Clement C. Moore and the Reverend Howard Finster, 1996

Ho, ho, ho! Folk art genius Howard Finster illustrates the oft-told tale with tractor enamel and fine point Sharpies.

. . . and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack. Ya think? When he got sprung from the halfway house this fellow forgot to cover his thick, black stubble with the obligatory fluffy white beard. However the Little Edie headdress? A nice touch.

While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads. . . also the maniac looking in the window.

Is anyone else reminded of the classic EC Comic All Through the House?

A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head, soon gave me to know, I had nothing to dread. . . except for the hundred little gremlins Santa just let loose in the den.

Bad Day at Riverbend

2009-12-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

by Chris Van Allsburg, 1995

It's like classic Twilight Zone.

One day, the lazy little western town of Riverbend is overtaken by mysterious crayon-like scribblings. What can they be? Crayon-like scribblings? We're not telling. At any rate, terror and mayhem ensues.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Are you kidding? Told their entire life not to color in books, Mr. Van Allsburg by example grants them permission. Yee-haw! After Bad Day perhaps they can graduate to coloring in bigger books. You know, those really old first editions in mommy and daddy's room.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Johnny Longnose

2009-12-14T05:56:00.000-08:00

by Stasys Eidrigevicius, James Kruss and Naomi Lewis, 1989

Not so much a narrative as an excuse to showcase Stasys Eidrigevicius’s fetching artwork. Children can enjoy sight gags of a long proboscis without the moralizing found in other books of extraordinary beaks.

SEE ALSO: Pinocchio, The Dong with a Luminous Nose, Cyrano de Bergerac, Schnozzola : the Story of Jimmy Durante.

Who knows what this book is called

2009-12-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

No idea who wrote this, 2003

This book follows the adventures of a little cat on a typical day in Japan. Or outer space, they never say specifically.

The pictures are photos and the words are drawings. Who knows what the cat is. Some type of photo drawing.

He is on the train.

Oh look, he’s a children’s book author.

Maybe not, he’s left the safety of his house to socialize.

That’s more like it!

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Not much happens - like real life, sleeping on the floor, sleeping outdoors

WHY PARENTS WON’T LIKE IT: It looks like a pretty fun time.

The Bad Child's Book of Beasts, More Beasts for Worse Children

2009-12-10T08:21:00.000-08:00

by Hilaire Belloc and Basil Temple Blackwood, 1897-99

A Moral Alphabet (in words of from one to seven syllables) is dedicated to the Reviewer . . .

RECOMMENDED AGES: 1 to 3, 5 to 7, 9 to 12, 6 to 8, 4 to 7.

Captain Jeff and the Squeeze Box

2009-12-07T08:36:00.000-08:00

by Ruth K. Todt and R.D. Richardson, 1940

This gem has all the strings, harsh joints and mechanics of puppet construction without the bothersome skill of a puppeteer to bring the lifeless shapes alive.

It is pretty sweet.

Ok, if you’re struggling with something, the people under the table might not be the most helpful. Or the most sober.

See?

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Primitive prosthesis, nightmare fodder, sailors, Linda’s all powerful hand

The Gay Mother Goose

2009-12-05T08:36:00.000-08:00

by Françoise, 1938

We're all for it of course.

My First Nursery Book

2009-12-02T07:31:00.000-08:00

by Franciszka Themerson, 1947

Guest Reviewer: CARSON ELLIS

My First Nursery Book, illustrated by Franciszka Themerson. Because nothing says nursery rhymes like the Polish avant-garde. The first story is Who Killed Cock Robin?

The endpapers are great too . . .

I Know an Old Lady

2009-12-01T08:58:00.000-08:00

by Rose Bonne, Alan Mills and Abner Graboff, 1961

This politically incorrect book reinforces the stereotype that old people eat weird stuff like bugs and horses. Sure, we all know it’s true, like the stereotype about kids book authors being handsome, strong and really, really popular with lots of good close friends who never make fun of them. It’s just not cool to run around saying it all the time.

See? She’s doing it now, in that picture.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Maniacal bug eating granny, problem solving, death, justice

Portly's Hat

2009-11-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

by Lucy Cousins, 1988

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: It has stinky seagulls.

WHAT ELSE? The art looks like something children might do themselves.

Bob and Ray's Story of Linda Lovely and the Fleebus

2009-11-29T10:49:00.000-08:00

by Bob & Ray and Michael J. Smollin, 1960

R: Good gravy! Is this a children's book? The language... so urbane and learned. More like a radio routine.

B: What?

R: I said the text... atypical for a children's book... closer to radio.

B: That's not what you said before.

R: Will children truly appreciate its drier-than-dry wit?

B: What?

R: I say, kids, will they like it? I mean apart from the bits about peanut butter?

B: That's not what you said before.

R: How about these illustrations? Michael Smollin... didn't he illustrate the classic, The Monster at the End of This Book and work on some of those Bert and Harry cartoons?

B: Bert and who?

R: Oh why don't you dry up.

This review brought to you by the makers of Graham Crackers with Chocolate all Over Them™.

Dr. Seuss Was Born an Artist

2009-11-27T08:31:00.000-08:00

by Helen P. Geisel, 1948

Most everything Ted (Dr. Seuss) Geisel wrote qualifies as required Curious Pages reading. Below, a rarely seen two-page bio written by fellow writer (A Fish Out of Water) "Mrs. Dr. Seuss," Helen Palmer Geisel.

The Gateway to Storyland

2009-11-24T09:47:00.000-08:00

by Watty Piper and Eulalie, 1954

We know we're in good hands when we see the Platt & Munk, Co Seal of Approval . . .

Yep, happiness on every page. Here are a few . . .

Thank you Watty Piper.

The Nightingale

2009-11-20T03:44:00.000-08:00

by H. C. Andersen (in Hebrew) and Amos Hetz, no date listed

Another wonderful book for Read-Aloud we can't read. This Hebrew edition, based on Andersen's The Nightingale, features clean, minimal, graphic design by Amos Hetz.

You probably know the story anyway. If not these pictures do an excellent job of conveying the multi-layered plot.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: They can color in-between the lines.

The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily

2009-11-19T07:18:00.000-08:00

by Dino Buzzati, 1945

Guest Reviewer: JOHN BEMELMANS MARCIANO

Dino Buzzati was an acclaimed author, accomplished poet, and amateurish artist who put all his skills to best effect in La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia (The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily is its arhythmically-rendered English title). The illustrations that accompany Buzzati's surrealistic tale prove you don't have to know how to draw to masterfully tell a story in pictures. If imperfection bothers you don't pick up this book--it's the shaggy work of a creator who'll dare try anything.

Reading The Little Prince, you may feel like you are in the company of an author who can elevate you to the heavens. With La famosa invasione, you ride shotgun to a man who would come over to your house, drink all your liquor, burn your house down with his cigarette, and still manage to convince you how lovely a waltz the flames were dancing.

–– John Bemelmans Marciano

Baby, Mix Me a Drink

2009-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

by Lisa Brown, 2005

Small board book ideal for baby sized hands. Offers five very easy-to-make recipes for toddlers.

A WORD TO PARENTS: One illustration pictures sugar. Parents might exercise discretion when sharing this image.

Ice Cream Is Good

2009-11-17T12:15:00.000-08:00

Lois Lenski, 1948

Awkward word spacing aside, this looks like a winner!

Spread eagle post sitting, the fashion of the day.

Or walk. Whichever.

Daddy either robbed a very small bank, or cleaned up after a very big dog.

Forearms.

You can't see from this angle, but she’s not wearing shoes.

Yum is right! Can't you just taste that delicious ice cream sliding down your long, tapered throat?

OK.

Sure.

What do kids love about ice cream? The gelatin, silly! Also from cows.

Yum. Much better than that Warhol debacle.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Ice cream, muscular calves.

Yum, Yum, Yum

2009-11-13T08:58:00.001-08:00

Andy Warhol, 1996

This is the only title we’ve come across by Mr. Warhol and it’s really no surprise. Despite the promising title, the book ignores fundamental rules of children’s books.

This spread reads, “When I see cold shellfish – like shrimp and clams – that says to me that somebody went all out."

Broken Children’s Book Making Rule Number 1: Know your audience. Shrimp and clams? Kids hate that stuff!

Try this: “When I see a pile of chicken nuggets, or a tube of some kind of sickly sweet goo with a colorful licensed character on it, I get excited, because those are the types of things I like.”

This one says. “They didn't even notice the cake.”

Broken Children’s Book Making Rule Number 2: Don’t lie. They always notice the cake.

Try this: “Hey look! Cake! Oh, you saw it already, great.”

Oh man, this is a big one. This reads, “Tab™ is Tab™ and no matter how rich you are, you can’t get a better one.”

Do we even have to point this out?

Broken Children’s Book Making Rule Number 3: Don’t mention Tab™.

Hey Andy, hope you hate pants. Why? Because yours are about to be sued off by the Coca-Cola Company. A bit of advice, you will get no where in your career by appropriating pop culture icons like Tab™. You're just asking for trouble.

Now, you seem to have a bit of artistic ability, don’t let this failure deter you from trying again. By now you probably have a nice safe day job, but keep drawing. If nothing else it’s a worthwhile hobby! Not everyone is meant to be famous, after all.

You’re welcome.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: It has pictures of ice cream, just ignore the words.

A Moon or a Button

2009-11-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

by Ruth Krauss and Remy Charlip, 1959

A perfect book for readers with attention disorders. Each page introduces a new storyline that is never completed.

You don't have to start in the beginning. You can start anywhere you like.

This is much easier than writing a real book.

Krauss beat Italo Calvino by twenty years. He employed a similar technique in If On a Winter's Night a Traveler in 1979. Instead of first lines only, Calvino used first chapters only. His book didn't have any pictures either.

Fables You Shouldn't Pay Any Attention To

2009-11-12T13:29:00.000-08:00

by Florence Parry Heide, Sylvia Worth Van Clief and Victoria Chess, 1978

Seven fables of animals and children doing horrible things. Celebrates carelessness, selfishness, envy, greed, laziness and lying.

"Hey, can I have some of your nuts?" one of the other squirrels would ask Jennifer.

"Help yourself," Jennifer would say.

"Hey, can I have some of your nuts?" one of the other squirrels would ask Cyril.

"Drop dead," Cyril would say.

"You're selfish, Cyril," the other squirrels would say. "You're supposed to share, the way Jennifer does."

Jennifer kept giving her nuts to the other squirrels. Cyril was too selfish. He kept all of his nuts to himself."

"Hey, can I have some of your nuts, Jennifer?" asked Cyril.

"Help yourself," said Jennifer.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: The stories show them how not to act.

WHY WE LIKE IT: Droll humor. Great punchlines. Nut jokes.

I Am Papa Snap and These Are My Favorite No Such Stories

2009-11-11T14:03:00.000-08:00

by Tomi Ungerer, 1971

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Silly, nonsensical stories that don't make a lot of sense.

WHY ADULTS WON'T LIKE IT: Silly, nonsensical stories that don't make a lot of sense.

The Teapot Opera

2009-11-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

by Arthur Tress, 1988

A book told in three acts starting with the birth of the planets

and continuing with adventures to strange lands with strange creatures made from "found" objects like

the Voodoo Man

and the Michelin Man.

Den Rode Kuffert

2009-11-05T12:26:00.000-08:00

by Elin Bing

We found this in an ATM kiosk. It’s written in some type of gibberish.

OK, so these guys live in the woods, and they have this red suitcase full of cleaning supplies.

And they're in love.

Then then dog one steals it while the bird thing is sleeping. They chase each other around.

We think Spike Jonze goes to the same ATM kiosk, because this is definitely where he stole the idea for Where the Wild Things Are. The art direction is exact. Sure, he replaced the red suitcase with a pervasive cloud of inescapable despair, loneliness and insecurity, but besides that they’re identical.

UPDATE: Look! Some TV! From the moon.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: It’s small, like they are.

Pinocchio

2009-11-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

by Carlo Collodi, 1883

Everyone in this story is a real bastard, even Pinocchio. But he's made of wood, so whatever.

This one time this cricket is giving Pinocchio the business, "You should do this, you should do that…" so Pinocchio brains him with a hammer. It's hilarious.

Then some stuff happens and Pinocchio’s feet burn off while his abusive father rots in jail. Pinocchio spends the rest of the book hungry, jailed, lying, fighting, or swindled.

There’s something about his nose, too. We forget.

What does he get for his trouble? ****SPOILER ALERT**** To be a real boy.

It’s pretty good.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: Fistfights, abject poverty and woodworking.

Mud Book

2009-11-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

by John Cage & Lois Long, mid 1950s (Abrams Edition 1988)

How to make mud pies by textile designer Lois Long and John Cage (yes, that John Cage).

Instructions any child can follow with ingredients easy to obtain. Notably, dirt, rocks, water, dirt and more dirt. But remember, mud pies are to make and to look at. Not to eat.

Donald and the . . .

2009-10-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

by Peter F. Neumeyer & Edward Gorey, 1969

An amusing and touching story of Donald who finds a pet worm.

"Let me keep it, Mother" he said. Donald feeds it and pokes holes in the lid. But the next day Donald has "painful ribs" and stays in bed. After a time, he fetches his jar and what do you think he finds inside? The most beautiful rainbow winged, furry footed, enormous eyed, peculiar mouthed . . .

WHO WILL LIKE IT? any child who has ever wanted a furry pet.

Gerald McBoing Boing & In Henry's Backyard

2009-10-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

by UPA Studios, 1952, 1948

The look and design of UPA animated cartoons influenced legions of contemporary illustrators. Gerald McBoing Boing penned by an uncredited (at least in the book version) Dr. Seuss, retells the Oscar-winning film's story of Gerald McCloy who didn't talk words but went, "Boing boing!" instead.

The artwork by Mel Crawford (illustrator of many a Little Golden Book) takes its visual cue from the innovative, groundbreaking short.

In Henry's Backyard: The Races of Mankind was based on the UPA short Brotherhood of Man. Here, the beautifully graphic endpapers depict a Green Devil taunting Henry with naughty, racist misinformation, "Don't speak to these people, Henry!" it whispers. "You won't like them. They're different!"

WHY WE LIKE THEM: Elegant design. Tasteful illustration. Evil-looking green devils. Little boys who can bark and toot and honk and hoot.

The Mountain-Bounder

2009-10-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

by Dr. Heinrich Hoffman, 1871-mid 1880s

From the creator of Struwwelpeter. These stories were discovered in Hoffman's notebooks after the author's death in 1894. Colored by one of his grandchildren in the style of Dr. Hoffman, the stories were first published in Germany in 1924 under the title, Besuch bei Frau Sonne.

The first American edition was published in 1964 with translations by a young Jack Prelutsky.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: many playful animals, a humorous drowning, a cloven runner.

Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug

2009-10-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash, 2007

A Wordless book about a canine's pursuit of an insect.

Clever sight gags in the tradition of Buster Keaton and Ernie Bushmiller.

WHY CHILDREN WILL LIKE IT: the book's innovative use of color, shapes, design, even the gutters will captivate children of all ages. There is also butt sniffing.

KEYWORDS: Bugs, bedtime, butts, sequential art, surrealism.

SEE ALSO: the many Bow-Wow board books.

Robert Francis Weatherbee

2009-10-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

by Munro Leaf, 1935

Munro Leaf was the author of the series of Can Be Fun books whose covers tempted with such enticing titles as Manners Can Be Fun, Health Can Be Fun and Safety Can Be Fun. Mun, as he was known to his friends, was best known for penning The Story of Ferdinand. That book was illustrated by Robert Lawson (Ben and Me), but Mun could easily have illustrated it himself as he was also an accomplished draftsman. Our favorite Leaf book, Robert Francis Weatherbee showcases Leaf's draftsmanship at its best with little Robert in a variety of poses. Some examples. . .

The book, whose size is compact for small children's hands, teaches boys and girls if they don't go to school they cannot become Prime Minister of England. Or a sailor.

Mr. Leaf's signature, 1936.