Odd Books for Sally
Stephanie Barton, managing director of Penguin Children’s Books, says publishers in 2010 will go with “very traditional, no-risk purchases.”
(Does this mean no more, “Joined at Birth: The Lives of Conjoined Twins”?)
Oh come now, I don’t believe you, Steph. Somewhere sits a sneaky MSS, as in smart, as in subversive, as in prepping the soil to grow not turnips, but psychotomimetic unicycles.
Alt books for kids? Weird books, strange books, honest books–books you read as a child (or to your child) and then went, “What the fuck?”
“After a fall from an experimental aircraft, Cris Molina is stricken with an unusual brain malfunction: He sees everything wrong (shoes look like books and a shirt looks like a fifth century Ming vase).”
Or, for your 12 year old…who may or may not be Doing It.
“Okay,” said Jonathan. “The choice is this. You either have to shag Jenny Gibson—or else that homeless woman who begs spare change outside Cramner’s bakers.”
Your selections?
Tags: Children's Literature, Doing It, Indie Kid's books, Melvin Burgess, Weird Books for Kids
As a kid, like starting at age five, I was transfixed by “The Walrus and the Carpenter”.
“…publishers in 2010 will go with “very traditional, no-risk purchases.” makes me very sad and slightly nauseous.
As a kid, like starting at age five, I was transfixed by “The Walrus and the Carpenter”.
“…publishers in 2010 will go with “very traditional, no-risk purchases.” makes me very sad and slightly nauseous.
my favorite when i was a little kid, was alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day by judith viorst. i don’t know how “unconventional” it is, but i doubt books like this would really get made for little kids these days.
my favorite when i was a little kid, was alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day by judith viorst. i don’t know how “unconventional” it is, but i doubt books like this would really get made for little kids these days.
I remember being a big fan of one of the lesser-known works of William Steig, “Tifky Doofky,” where a dog who is a garbage collector consults a fortune teller and has a spell cast on him by a witch who I believe is some variety of poultry.
I remember being a big fan of one of the lesser-known works of William Steig, “Tifky Doofky,” where a dog who is a garbage collector consults a fortune teller and has a spell cast on him by a witch who I believe is some variety of poultry.
found it:
“Tiffky Doofky, garbage collector for the town of Popville, is proud of his calling, and quite a gay dog into the bargain. One fine spring morning, while he’s making his rounds, it comes to him that something special is going to happen. Madame Tarsal, the fortuneteller, confirms his hunch and predicts that he will meet his true love that very day–before the sun goes down! “Nothing you can do can keep it from happening,” she quacks, and the excited Tiffky kisses her right on the bill. The day turns out to be far from ordinary, but not in the way Tiffky Doofky, or even Madame Tarsal, had expected. A bad-tempered witch is at work here, though she looks just like a harmless old biddy, with her bicycle and red babushka. Tiffky’s adventures under her spell take him so far from Popville and so close to sunset that he begins to despair of ever meeting his beloved. He even decides that Madame Tarsal ought to get a new crystal ball. But just as the sun is touching the horizon, Tiffky has his most perilous encounter, and it brings an ending entirely satisfactory to all.”
Love “quite a gay dog into the bargain.”
found it:
“Tiffky Doofky, garbage collector for the town of Popville, is proud of his calling, and quite a gay dog into the bargain. One fine spring morning, while he’s making his rounds, it comes to him that something special is going to happen. Madame Tarsal, the fortuneteller, confirms his hunch and predicts that he will meet his true love that very day–before the sun goes down! “Nothing you can do can keep it from happening,” she quacks, and the excited Tiffky kisses her right on the bill. The day turns out to be far from ordinary, but not in the way Tiffky Doofky, or even Madame Tarsal, had expected. A bad-tempered witch is at work here, though she looks just like a harmless old biddy, with her bicycle and red babushka. Tiffky’s adventures under her spell take him so far from Popville and so close to sunset that he begins to despair of ever meeting his beloved. He even decides that Madame Tarsal ought to get a new crystal ball. But just as the sun is touching the horizon, Tiffky has his most perilous encounter, and it brings an ending entirely satisfactory to all.”
Love “quite a gay dog into the bargain.”
In March, Tin House is reprinting a children’s nonfiction book from the 50’s, Robert Paul Smith’s “How To Do Nothing With Nobody All Alone By Yourself” which falls far from the no-risk category (read: teaching kids games that involve tossing knives in the air). It’s a fantastic book, but we’re having a hell of a time getting the chains on board with it. Everyone I’ve showed it to seems to fall in love with it, but Children’s book buyers seem to want the safe, predictable books that Barton is talking about.
In March, Tin House is reprinting a children’s nonfiction book from the 50’s, Robert Paul Smith’s “How To Do Nothing With Nobody All Alone By Yourself” which falls far from the no-risk category (read: teaching kids games that involve tossing knives in the air). It’s a fantastic book, but we’re having a hell of a time getting the chains on board with it. Everyone I’ve showed it to seems to fall in love with it, but Children’s book buyers seem to want the safe, predictable books that Barton is talking about.
dude, i don’t care if you only print 5 copies of that book–i will buy one based on the title alone.
dude, i don’t care if you only print 5 copies of that book–i will buy one based on the title alone.
The Sideways Stories books by Louis Sachar were pretty formative for me. I always (later) felt that there were hints of Beckett in those books. No 19th floor but you’re commanded to go the 19th floor and all of that.
But these examples listed above hint at a whole other class of weirdness for children.
The recent Kharms thread makes me curious about the sort of books he wrote for children. I guess he had eyes over his shoulder, but still I’d bet his books could be flipping out bored and desensitized kids of 2010.
The Sideways Stories books by Louis Sachar were pretty formative for me. I always (later) felt that there were hints of Beckett in those books. No 19th floor but you’re commanded to go the 19th floor and all of that.
But these examples listed above hint at a whole other class of weirdness for children.
The recent Kharms thread makes me curious about the sort of books he wrote for children. I guess he had eyes over his shoulder, but still I’d bet his books could be flipping out bored and desensitized kids of 2010.
My choice would have to be the homeless woman. I’ve never met Jenny Gibson.
My choice would have to be the homeless woman. I’ve never met Jenny Gibson.
Have the sort of people capable of saying something like that ever been good targets for interesting books?
Have the sort of people capable of saying something like that ever been good targets for interesting books?
The Struwwelpeter stories are pretty fucked up and awesome: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter. In one, a little girl plays with matches and burns to death; in another, a little boy sucks his thumbs and so a tailor comes and cuts them off with scissors.
Also anything by Edward Gorey. I plan on reading all his stuff to my kids, when I have them.
The Struwwelpeter stories are pretty fucked up and awesome: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter. In one, a little girl plays with matches and burns to death; in another, a little boy sucks his thumbs and so a tailor comes and cuts them off with scissors.
Also anything by Edward Gorey. I plan on reading all his stuff to my kids, when I have them.