review

BAD LITTLE CHILDREN’S BOOKS: KIDLIT PARODIES, SHAMELESS SPOOFS, AND OFFENSIVELY TWEAKED COVERS – ARTHUR C. GACKLEY

By karen t. brissette

Posted on September 7, 2016

Bad Little Children’s Books: KidLit Parodies, Shameless Spoofs, and Offensively Tweaked Covers by Arthur C. Gackley
My rating: 4/5 cats
One Star

this book is a hoot. it is designed like a traditional little golden book, but it’s about three times as thick, and filled with 121 hilariously rejiggered children’s book covers. there’s plenty of filler, sure, and the framing device/explanation of these covers as found art is unnecessary and not particularly funny. publishers—FYI, this is one of those “if you build it, they will come” concepts and you don’t need to fancy it up with backstory. just show us the covers, and we will giggle.

observe:

did i hear a giggle out there over in michigan, maybe? nebraska?

are you snickering, filthy goodreads friends?

i know i’ll get a guffaw out of eh (who is an excellent driver) with this one:

sadly, i recognized very few of these covers from their originals which i think means i had a lousy childhood.

but there’s this one:

and this one:

and the title of this one, if not the cover:

and a handful of others that make it clear that i did have a childhood, with memories.

but this one?

i neither recognize the original nor do i even understand the joke of the “new” cover. is there some cultural reference i am missing?

but ahhhh—this one—not only do i understand it, but i think it would be an excellent drinking game. and a difficult one.

these are probably my top faves, for their sheer bizarre surrealism and the fact that i want to read them like right now:

and of course i love anything that speaks to what little monsters kids can be:

not that animals are any better

or fathers

or even artists

they aren’t all modified from children’s books (at least i don’t think this one was ever intended to be for children, but what do i know?)

and they touch upon important contemporary issues like vaccination:

abortion:

zika:

and the most controversial plague of our time:

so, if you have a childish sense of humor but are not, in fact, a child, you will probably find some laughs here.

and you might actually learn a thing or two, like this:

which animal-nipple situation i am personally learning about right now, with poor maggie’s MRI-shaved tummy revealing her icky little nubs—warning: NSFW