Book 'em Bob!

Mercer Mayer's BIG LITTLE CRITTER series is coming!

2012-01-09T23:43:00.000-08:00

While doing my usual random searches of the Interwebs, I ran across some press release information about a series of Little Critter collections called the "Big Little Critter" series.

It will be a series of books that collect four previously released Little Critter books each. Most of the books were originally part of the Little Critter Book Club series of hardcovers, and some are very hard to find nowadays. The series will launch with five titles during 2012 all released by FastPencil Premier (starting in May):

Staying Well (ISBN 1-607-46732-1) (featuring This is My Body, Taking Care of Mom, I Was So Sick, and The Loose Tooth)

On the Go (ISBN 1-607-46983-9) (featuring Just a Bad Day, Just an Airplane, Just Me and My Bicycle, and Going to the Races)

My Family (ISBN 1-607-46810-7) (featuring: It's Mine, Just Like Dad, Just Too Little, I Didn't Mean It)

Helping Out (ISBN 1-607-46071-8) (featuring: I'm Sorry, Just Say Please, Just Leave Me Alone, Just a Gum Wrapper)

Fair Play (ISBN 1-607-46763-1) (featuring: I Didn't Know That, That's Not Fair, Just a Little Different, The School Play)

That is all I know for now... no pictures of the covers are available yet. So, good-night, sleep tight, and don't let the Zipperump-a-zoos bite.

Possum Child Goes Shopping by Mercer Mayer and an Introduction to His Panorama Books.

2012-01-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

Possum Child Goes Shopping by Mercer Mayer

ISBN: 0-590-32806-9

Well, it is a brand new year. I am going to start it out by featuringMercer Mayer’s Panoramic Board Book series featuring Little Critter and theCritter Kids. This series of books cameout from Scholastic in 1983 for $2.95 a pop. Two of the books weren’t re-released and two were re-named (just to confuseus kiddos) for paperback and hardcover releases. Note for collectors: If you are looking forthe Panorama versions of these books they all start with ISBN “0-590-328.”

The books in the Panorama version of this series are:

Possum Child Goes Shopping (never re-released)

Gator Cleans House

Malcom’s Race (never re-released)

Sweetmeat’s Birthday (later renamed Bun Bun’s Birthday)

Too’s Bracelet (later renamed Little Sister’s Bracelet)

Bat Child’s Haunted House

Each book is thick cardboard (like a Board Book, but maybe atouch thinner) and has a folded accordion/Panoramic style. When fully opened, the book is over four feet long (for a little over eight feet of fun art and story). Each book is 8 double sided panels long (16 panels total). This ends up being about 13 pages of story (6pages on one side, 7 on the other), a cover page, a back page featuring all ofthe Critter Kids, and a removable page featuring four of the Critter Kids (“collectall 16!”…one card features two of the 17 characters: Maurice & Molly).

The seventeen Critter Kids are:

Little Critter: a critter

Too (name eventually changed to Little Sister…naming acharacter an adverb is just confusing): a critter, Little Critter’s little sister

Sweetmeat (name eventually changed to Bun Bun…look up “sweetmeat”and you’ll see why): a rabbit

Frud (name eventually changed to Frog…what was wrong with"Frud"?): a frog

Weenie (name eventually changed to Mouse… we wouldn’t want acharacter named “Weenie” in a book, would we?): a mouse

Muso (name eventually changed to Mooso…possibly so peoplewould pronounce it correctly…it probably didn’t help…also “muso” means mouse insome languages): a panda

Skat Owl (no name changes for this guy, even though his namesounds like “scat”…look it up): an owl

Malcom: a tiger (or a tiger-striped cat)

Max: a koala

Huggums: a raccoon

Gator: an alligator

Bat Child: a bat

Oscar: an otter

Seaweed: a skunk

Maurice: a mole

Molly: a mole, Maurice’s sister

Possum Child: a possum

The versions of these books that were re-released by Random House / B. DaltonBooksellers, Inc. / Green Frog Publishers Inc. (in association with John R.Sansevere) had some changes made and most came with a disclaimer on thecopyright page, “Originally published in a different format by Scholastic Inc.,in 1983.” Some of the re-releases havewhat looks like extra pages in them… some of which were borrowed from otherbooks in the series.

Today’s book is one of the ones that wasn’t re-released (asfar as I know). Possum Child Goes Shopping. It seems to be very rareand it took me a few years to find a decent ex-library copy. It comes with four Critter cards: PossumChild, Oscar, Little Critter, and Huggums.

The story: PossumChild goes shopping for a new red bow for her head. Before she’s able to leave she gets bombardedwith requests from her friends to pick up some things for them. As she shops she rhymes her grocery list, “ForHuggums, lots of nuts and fruit. Gator needs a bathing suit.” She isn't mad that her friends asked for these things, and she even seems happy to do it. BUT, she does end up forgetting to buy her red bow.

Sadly, this particular book doesn’t take advantage of the Panoramapublication style. Some of the picturesare two-panels long, but most are single panel. The shopping motif could have easily leant itself to showing a wholeone-stop-shopping center with Possum Child in the different sections with atouch of bleed-over from picture to picture. As to why this book didn't get re-released... I have no idea. Kids love to play "shopping," and the book is fun, short, and sweet. Maybe there is a low demographic for "possom"-related children's fiction?

Being picky: In the story, Possum Child buys some cheese forWeenie the mouse (per Weenie’s order), but she never delivers it to Weenie inthe story (everyone else is shown getting what they wanted). The jacks don't get delivered either, but Max got a bunny on top of that gift (Possum Child got him two things). Also, Malcom, Too/Little Sister,Sweetmeat/Bun Bun, Skat Owl, Bat Child, and Frud are not in this book at all.

That’s all for this one. Goodnight, sleep tight, and don’t let the Zipperump-a-zoos bite!

Bizarro? What's Bizarro? .... Bizarro is Weird. Plus, Is there Bizarro for Children?

2011-11-26T12:28:00.001-08:00

I went to BizarroCon 2011 in Troutdale, Oregon (at McMenamins Edgefield) this last weekend and had a great time. I met many Bizarro authors and learned some writing tricks and strategies that will be very useful to me as I continue to expand my writing efforts.

At one point, I arrived a little early to one of the activities. There were three people in the room that I assumed might be part of the convention. So, I asked them if they were there for BizarroCon. Their response was, "What's Bizarro?" One of them made a little joke about Superman ("Bizarro" is the name of a character in the Superman comics who is sort of the opposite of Superman...quick aside: "Bizarro" is also the name of a comic strip by Dan Piraro). It turned out that these people were just hotel guests exploring the grounds, but I was put on the spot. Strange images and brand new authors flashed in my head, but I had no idea what to say. I eventually spouted out that it was a genre of literature that has always been around but has only recently been given a more official name. In the past, some people called it "Weird Sh*t." I mentioned Joe R. Lansdale, and one of the members of the group perked up. I mentioned that Mr. Lansdale wrote some very odd and non-mainstream stories and books with elements that you normally wouldn't find on the Best Seller lists.

I then mentioned some titles of books like Carlton Mellick III's I Knocked Up Satan's Daughter: A Demonic Romantic Comedy and Robert Devereaux's Baby's First Book of Seriously F*cked up Sh*t. I also told them that it isn't always funny and it isn't always gross...but those things can help make a Bizarro book great! My conclusion was this, Bizarro is weird. They accepted that and moved on with their explorations.

Now that I think about it, wasn't Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland pretty bizarre? Bizarro-esque media has been around us for ages: Movies (there are some very weird 1920's films... plus, have you seen Richard Elfman's 80's movie Forbidden Zone?), TV (Monty Python's Flying Circus, anyone?) and music (personally, I love Adam and the Ants' "Don't Be Square (Be There)": "Antmusic for sexpeople / Sexmusic for antpeople / Get off your knees and hear the insect prayer"). If you read a lot of 1960's and 1970's children's literature and picture books, you know there is a lot of bizarre stuff out there. There are whole blogs dedicated to kids' books that will mess up your children!

The other part of Bizarro literature is that anything officially marked "Bizarro" is currently 99.9% for adults. Be it language or adult situations, it isn't things the average 10 year old should be reading.

Nowadays, children's literature is very sanitized and oftentimes even dull. There is hope though; Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants series is WEIRD and fun. Kids love weird. I read my son Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers and he loved its weirdness.

I would love to see some official Bizarro books for kids. Yes, the parody "for adult" children's books are great too, but a well illustrated weird book for kids could be great too. Maybe even some Young Adult books too.

There are some quite strange children's books out there. One being The Long Journey of Mister Poop (AKA The Fantastic Voyage of Señor Caca) by Angèle Delaunois which features the words "YUM" and "Ah!" on its cover alongside the titular anthropomorphic piece of excrement! And for the pre-school sex-ed crowd there's Nicholas' Allen's Where Willy Went...The Big Story of a Little Sperm and for the slightly older picture book reader there is Hair in Funny Places by Babette Cole (featuring the scariest hormone monsters you've ever seen and the line, "Inside his penis, Mr. Hormone was lurking with another portion of the mixture..." SCARY AS HELL)! Oh...and don't forget the smelly fun of William Kotzwinkle's Walter the Farting Dog series of books (their whimsical and totally crazy illustrations are fascinating).

Not all of the Bizarro-esque children's books are bathroom-function or puberty related. Daniel Manus Pinkwater has been weirding-up children's minds for years. The Hoboken Chicken Emergency and The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death fascinated me as a tyke.

I was kept away from some of Daniel Pinkwater's other books like Devil in the Drain (featuring a demon in a little kid's drain!) and I totally missed the awesome sounding The Wuggie Norple Story (illustrated by Tomie dePaola and features a HUGE cat and the line "The next day was Saturday, and Lunchbox Louie didn't have to go to work, so he took Bigfoot the Chipmunk, and King Waffle, and Wuggie Norple, and Freckleface Chilibean, and Papercup Mixmaster and Exploding Poptart, and Laughing Gas Alligator, and a big basket of lunch and they all went to Nosewort Pond for a picnic..." Totally Bizarro!).

Bizarro kids' lit doesn't have to mess up you children's minds or scare them from ever using the toilet or touching themselves again. If done correctly, it should expand their minds and make them realize that fiction doesn't have to be just Junie B. Jones or Harry Potter. There's nothing wrong with kids reading those mainstream books, but don't put your kids into the same box that everyone else is trying to put them into. If you are hesitant, read it with them, or read it first. But please, please, please, buy your child something weird, strange, weird, bizarre, weird, funny, weird, Bizarro!

Now snuggle into your Tauntaun sleeping bag and I'll sing you a Bizarro song called "Little Bunny Foo Foo" before I say "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the Zipperump-a-zoos bite!"

PS: If you are interested in trying out Bizarro for Adults, try one of the Bizarro Starter Kit books or read more about Bizarro at Bizarro Central (http://bizarrocentral.com/).

A NEW Shel Silverstein Book! "Every Thing On It" is out now! Plus, an Ode to it too!

2011-09-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

Shel Silverstein's Every Thing On It

Most kids born in the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's (and the parents of those children) are very familiar with the poetry and art of a man named Shel Silverstein. For many, you can start a random line and they'll even be able to finish it or you'll at least get a knowing smile... like "Help I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor!" ("A boa constrictor! A boa constrictor!") or "Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout" ("would not take the garbage out..."). His books are in over 20 languages and he has sold over 20 million copies of his works worldwide. Books like The Giving Tree and The Missing Piece, and poetry collections like Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic are a must in every library.

Well, fan, Romans, parents, kids, and monkeys lend me your eyes, ears, and nose... There is a NEW book of about 150 never-before-published poems (and drawings!) and it clocks in at almost 200 pages!. Oh, and Shel Silverstein's new book is called Every Thing On It! It came out September 20th, 2011 and it is fantastic (I picked mine up at Target for a little over what it is currently priced at on Amazon). It has the exact same look and feel as the classic collections of Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light In the Attic (and Falling Up too, in case you missed that one).

His humor is here -- of course -- and the dark side that kids secretly love is here too (like bad children who... well.. die!). The illustrations have the same look and feel as all of his "normal" illustrations. His use of irony and turns of phrase are just like you remember them.

And now... for something completely different...

An Ode to Shel Silverstein's Every Thing On It
by Robert Brouhard

It's here!
It's here!
Shel Silverstein's,
Every Thing On It!
Let's cheer!
Let's cheer!
Stay up late,
And read all of it!

I just bought it today,
And I am oh so happy to say,
There are poems in here,
that will remind you of yesteryear.
At the start or by the end,
It may bring to you, my friend,
a happy or nostalgic tear.

There are plays on assumptions,
and he'll fool your perceptions,
There are funny stories,
(Even some that are gore-ies),
There are poems of insightfulness,
And some full of frightfulness...
But no matter how they beg,
No matter how they wheaze,
Don't let your parents read it,
Unless they say "Please."

So come and roam,
Through this Poetry tome,
Full of four lined quickies,
And eighty lined longies,
Boy and girls and ponies,
Talking tummies and macaronies
Legsies and toesies
And fingies as nosies
But, oh my, please,
Remember this, Dears,
When you have Shel Silverstein,
With Every Thing On It,
You'll have the treasure of laughter for years.

Although Shel Silverstein did die 1999, good ole (bad ole?) "Uncle Shelby" will always live on in the imaginations of children, young and old, everywhere.

So, goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let the Zipperump-a-zoos bite.

The Disney Comics App for iPhone and iPad featuring X-Mickey! (updated 10/13/2011)

2011-09-16T14:50:00.000-07:00

You know me, I love to read, and that includes Comic Books. I’ve recently discovered the Disney Comics App in the App store on iTunes (available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch). I have an iPhone and I love it.

Here is what makes the Disney Comics App so cool: A lot of the comics have never been available in English or in the United States (there are settings for “English,” “English (United States),” “French,” and“Spanish” in the App settings, but I don’t know if this will change the language of the comic books or just the App buttons). Some were released by Gladstone and Boom Kids! The thing is, Italians have a comics publication called Topolino (which I believe is their name for Mickey Mouse). It started in 1949 with issue #1 (100 pages). Issue #500 came out in 1965 (180 pages). #1000 came out in 1975 (over 100 pages). #1500 came out in 1984. #2000 came out in 1994 (388 pages). #2500 came out in 2003 (196 pages)… They are almost to #3000. If you get where I’m going, this is a weekly comic book that has been around for over 50 years with over 100 to 200 pages an issue and little to no reprints! 1,000’s of stories that a lot of us have never even seen! Plus, there are a ton of characters that Americans might not be aware of (or at least don’t see very often)! Like: Fethry Duck, Donald Duckling, Pipwolf, Quackmore, Portis (Peg-Leg Pete’s partner), and many more.

There are currently about 17 totally free digital comic books available on the App (ranging from a couple pages to 45+ pages). This will give you plenty of time to get to know the different ways to use the App. There are also 40+ purchase-able comics too (Many of which are available as a part of the various Bundle deals they have going on right now).

You need to get this app to read X-Mickey. X-Mickey is sort of a mix of Mickey Mouse’s mystery comics with a touch of horror (not too scary at all). They feature a Goofy-like character named Pipwolf that is a werewolf, but he isn’t evil or scary. The series was originally released by The Walt Disney Company Italia from 2002 to 2004. It was a short-lived series of only 30 issues that started with #1000 and worked their way DOWNWARD to #971. Then the series continued from that point in the main Italian Disney Comic Topolino (including a pretty long, 87 page, story in Topolino #2762 and #2763, story #TL 2762-2P). In the app, the original X-Mickey comics are numbered normally, and #1 - #11 are on there right now. DISNEY, PLEASE get #12 - #30 on there as soon as possible (plus the bonus material and the Topolino appearances, pretty please)! I think the title is a reference to The X-Files (and certainly not the X-Men).

Now, here is the sad thing. While you get the original full X-Mickey stories that were in those issues of X-Mickey, you don’t get the full original comic book! For Example, X-Mickey #1 (AKA #1000) was 84 pages long. But the X-Mickey digital comic is 45 pages long. The Digital comic is missing “Chiedilo a Pipwolf” a 4 page story featuring Jeremy the invisible mailman and Pipwolf, “Cartoline da Mostropoli” a 12 page story featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse, some ads, a fake ad featuring Pipwolf as a magaician, and the original front and back cover. While I’d LOVE to see it all translated to English, I am okay with getting just the main, uncensored, X-Mickey story that was in each issue.

I have read some negative reviews, but they seem to all stem from people not being patient enough with downloads (and be connected to an Internet source) or not reading the Settings section's "Help" section under "About".... There is also a great amount of info on their website: http://www.disneybookapps.com/disneycomics.html

Pros:

1) Free comics! And most of the comics are only $0.99.

2) No ads at all (none in the comics…and the ones in the app are for deals within the app).

3)Translations. Previously unavailable in English comics like X-Mickey!

4) X-Mickey. These huge comics (about 45 pages) are totally entertaining and feature brand new (to me) characters and monsters.

5) Actual pages are listed. Not panels like some comic apps.

6)ZOOMING. You can choose to pinch-to-zoom, or have the app zoom-in from panel to panel with just a tap! You can even have it automatically go from panel to panel… if you’re a speedy reader (the speed is adjustable).

7) Sounds. These scared me the first time they happened. Every once in a while, if you are reading with the panel-to-panel method, a pre-recorded sound will play…usually a zinger of some sort that matches the action in the comic. This is a totally unnecessary thing, but it is fun and it usually makes me jump. It is easily turned off in the “Sounds and Animations” section of the“Settings.” I haven’t seen any“Animations” yet, but they might be cool!

8)Prices. $0.99 a comic story is great! Some of them are $1.99 and some are more than that, but I believe the price points are based on length... something like 30 pages or less is $0.99... 31 or more pages is $1.99. There are some deals for longer comics being $0.99 (or less with bundles)... Personally, I think that all the comics SHOULD be $0.99. I'm not purchasing any of the higher priced ones. For Example, the Superduck series, most of them are $1.99, and they are really good, but I can't buy 11+ comics for $1.99 each (they are about 48 pages each, and probably worth it though...maybe).

Cons / Easily fixable things:

1) The banners advertising the different deals and comics don’t always work (currently there is one that says “Villains”with Magica De Spell and the Beagle Boys on it, but tapping it doesn’t bring you to to a list of their comics). Sometimes these banners do work, and when they do, there is usually a good deal attached to them. UPDATE for new 10/2011 version: THEY WORK NOW!

2) Incomplete comics/No ads in the comics… WHAT? Yes, you read that right. From what I understand, the original X-Mickey releases had FAKE parody advertisements in them (featuring the X-Mickey characters with story related silly items), and these aren’t included… but the big stinker is, the bonus stories that were in the original issues aren’t included either. Also, the Topolino comics were a few hundred pages, and they aren't completely available... just the full stories are available (which is hard to complain about). October 19th update: A new 15 page free comic called "X-Mickey Extra #1: Postcard from Monsterton" (which looks like it should be called "Smile!") was just added... this may be a GOOD sign! Smile was originally printed as "Sorridi!" in 2002 in X-Mickey #998 (#3).

3) Non-searchable database. You can’t search. Period. You just have three lists for the regular and three lists for the free comics: “Featured,” “Top 25,” and “New” in each. Note: You CAN sort of search the comics you've purchased/downloaded via a list of ALL of them, called "titles," a list called "Characters" and a list called "Categories." UPDATE FOR NEW VERSION of the APP released 10/2011: "Characters" and "Categories" have been added to a "Kiosk" section of the main comics and a lot of comics are listed under those that aren't anywhere else. Currently, the "Characters" list in the Kiosk section is missing a lot of characters, but they are working on it. There still isn't a "search" though. I want a key-word search.

4) Translations need another proofread sometimes. Two of the comics I’ve read on the Disney Comics App have had errors that should have been picked up by a proofreader. One of these was in Wizards of Mickey #1 (which I have the Boom Kids! Graphic novel of the first four issues… but the app had it as a free download too). The interesting thing is, this typo wasn’t in the Graphic Novel at all. The typo is “You’ll find out in soon in the next episode…” A totally easy mistake to make when a writer changes how they are going to word something mid-sentence. Maybe they need to hire a Copy Editor/Proofreader, or a second one.

5) The original covers aren’t always a part of the comic download. This is due to a lot of these originally being part of a bigger comic like the Italian“Topolino” comics that usually have a lot of stories. But for something like the X-Mickey comics, I don’t know why they aren’t included. The original X-Mickey covers are works of art. This is a little picky, but it would be nice.

Here is a list of some of the comics (besides X-Mickey) that are currently available:

NOTE: the TL ####-#’s are the story codes. I noticed these in the books and there are websites dedicated to them. The TL stands for "Topolino"

Arizona Goof and the Risky Adventure (also titled “Arizona Goofy and the Risky Adventure” within the App). TL-2649-2 (this series was originally titled Indiana Pipps/Goofs, I believe). Original Italian title: Indiana Pipps e la rischiosa avventura

Donald Duck and Fethry Duck in “Operation Seaweed”. TL 2541-1. 30 Pages. Original Italian title: Paperino, Paperoga e la "Missione Alga"

Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander and the Trash Collection. TL 2688-2. 12 pages. Original title: Paperino, Gastone e la raccolta differenziata

Donald Duck and the Secret of the 313, TL 2071 (AKA TL 2071-1). 29 pages. Original Italian title: Paperino e il segreto della 313

Donald Duck and the Beach Training Camp. TL 2752-1. 26 pages. Original Italian title: Paperino e il singolare allenamento balneare

Donald Duck and the World Cup Mission. TL 2638-1. 30 pages. Original Italian title: Paperino e la missione "mondiali" (Note: this also features Fethry Duck.)

Donald Duck in Gone With the Wind #1. TL 1396-A. 44 pages. Original Italian title was: Paperino e il vento del sud (Note: #2 isn’t on the App yet, but #1 is free right now)

Gladstone Gander and the Holiday in the Pocket. 4 pages (free). TL 2211-3. Original Italian title: Gastone e la vacanza in tasca

Goofy and the Elephant Memory. 5 pages (free). TL 2224-4. Original Italian title: Pippo e la memoria da elefante

Gyro Gearloose and the Shielding Gloves. 12 pages (free). TL 2695-3. Original Italian title: Archimede e i guanti paranti

Mickey Mouse and the Secret of the Black Whale. 36 pages. TL 2523-1. Original Italian title: Topolino e il segreto della Balena Nera

Mickey Mouse and the Sword of Ice #1. 31 pages. Part 1 of TL 1411-BP. Original Italian title:Topolino e la spada di ghiaccio

Mickey Mouse and the Sword of Ice #2. 31 pages. Part 2 of TL 1411-BP. Original Italian title: Topolino e la spada di ghiaccio

Mickey Mouse and the Sword of Ice #3. 39 pages. Part 3 of TL 1411-BP. Original Italian title: Topolino e la spada di ghiaccio

Mickey Mouse and the River of Time #1 (also titled “Mickey Mouse in the River of Time” in the APP). 24 Pages. TL 2243-1A. Original Italian title: Topolino e il fiume del tempo. This story was printed in English before in Mickey Mouse Adventures #2 (ISBN 0-911903-69-0)

Mickey Mouse and the River of Time #2 (also titled “Mickey Mouse in the River of Time” in the APP). 26 Pages. TL 2243-1B. Original Italian title: Topolino e il fiume del tempo

Here is a list of some comics that have been available as a part of a promotion, but they are currently no longer available:

San Diego Comic Con 2011 specials:

Cinderella (a 44 page comic adaptation of the film, FREE)

Up (a 48 page comic adaption of the film, FREE).

UPDATE:
New York Comic Con 2011 specials (as of Thursday morning at 1:21 New York time):
From what I understand, a QR code on staff t-shirts will lead to a special mobile site with specially-priced New York Comic-Con exclusives. Here is what the app has on it right now (with the prices for "regular" users:
The Mickey Mouse Once Upon a Time in America Series:
Mickey Mouse and the Treasure of the Mayflower (34 pages, free)
Mickey Mouse and the Boston Smugglers (35 pages, $0.99)
Mickey Mouse and the Big Sky (40 pages, $0.99)
Mickey Mouse and the Second-to-Last of the Mohicans (35 pages, $0.99)
Mickey Mouse and the River's Beauty (32 pages, $0.99)
Interview with George Washington (30 pages, $0.99)

Two Tangled shorts: "Flying Stars" and "Pascal's Painting" (only 4 pages each, and way over-priced at $0.99 each... these should be free). They were originally published in Disney Presents #1.

The Lion King (46 page film adaption, 2.99)

Toy Story (48 page film adaption, $2.99)

Aladdin (46 page film adaptation, $2.99)

Up and Cinderella too (but for $2.99 each).

Some of the bundles are listed in the Special Offers secitions of the App, but they are all regular price.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE October, 2011

They just released a new version!

There is a "Kiosk" choice at the top. Tapping it will bring you to two choices "Characters" and "Catagories." Going into those will bring up a lot of comics that don't show up anywhere else. Like: "Arizona Goof and the Idol of the Chicken-hearts," "Mickey Mouse in War of the Worlds," "A Christmas Carol" (Jose Colomer Font's 1982 34 page version)and a whole slew of "Superduck" comics!

The banners now work!

All of my purchases moved to it without me even having to re-download. NICE! There is an option in the settings to do this if you can't find something you've downloaded.

Now... just add a search and they'll be golden.

"Gwot! Horribly Funny Hairticklers" by George Mendoza: One of Steven Kellogg's First Illustrated Books!

2011-08-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

GWOT! Horribly Funny Hairticklers

Author: George Mendoza

Illustrator: Steven Kellogg

1967, Harper & Row, Publishers

One of the first books I remember my mom reading to me was GWOT! Horribly funny hairticklers by George Mendoza and illustrated by Steven Kellogg, and so that is the book that I want to share with you wonderful readers today (I found it in a library sale)!

Most of us are aware of Steven Kellogg. He is an excellent illustrator and story teller. He is well known for the Pinkerton series of books. My personal favorite by him is Much Bigger Than Martin (I had a big brother). George Mendoza on the other hand is an odd duck, and that is why I blogged about him yesterday.

GWOT! was George Mendoza’s “first book for children” per the dust jacket. This might be Steven Kellogg’s second illustrated book. The dust jacket states that Steven Kellogg had also illustrated Mary Rodgers’ The Rotten Book, but the earliest year I can find online for that book is 1969... so GWOT! may be his first published work in book form. But to be honest, It is really unknown to me which book came out first.

This book consists of three stories, “The Snake,” “The Hairy Toe,” and “The Hunter” (plus an unnamed three panel bonus wordless story). All have scary aspects. Although, when I read them to my then five-year-old last year, he just looked at me and said, “Was that supposed to be scary?” Of course, he was scared during the stories. I could tell. He was just trying to be brave...I think.

THE HAIRY TOE:

Ants and a hairy severed toe!

Maybe the reason this books sticks in my mind is my mother’s wonderful reading of “The Hairy Toe” story. My mother was a 2nd grade teacher and she could read a book aloud like no other. You may be familiar with this classic “jump story” because it has been re-told many times. Usually about a bone or “tailypo” or something that is dug up by an older person or a “teeny tiny” woman. They take it home and hide it or put it on their night stand or under their pillow. That night while they are in bed a ghostly voice starts softly asking for their item back. “Who’s got my bone / nasty underwear / whatever” Louder and louder… closer and closer…until the creature / ghost / zombie / whatever bursts in and says “You’ve got it!” or something like that. I’ve scared the bejeezus out of my nephews during a campfire story telling of this type of story. The version of this type of story, things are changed around a little.

In this case it is a hairy toe that is found by an old gnarled woman while digging up potatoes and picking beans. When she finds the toe, she exclaims, “Gwot!” In fact, “Gwot,” is all she says for most of the story. She takes home the toe, beans, and spuds and cooks them all up (yes, all)… and she EATS THE HAIRY TOE!

Mmm, hairy toe soup, my favorite!

“Nasty!” as my son said at this part and I agree whole heartedly. That night, sure enough, while she’s in bed she hears, “Who’s got my hair-r-ry to-o-o-e-e?” Over and over… louder and louder… (the tension is well built up for four pages)… until “…the old woman bolted up in her bed screeching – GWOT! I ATE IT!”

"GWOT! I ATE IT"

THE WORDLESS STORY:

The wordless (except for some signs) and untitled story involves a girl who has some creatures (bats, a snake, and a huge vulture-like bird) on the outside of her house. She tries to scare them away with a broom, but ends up getting carried away… literally, by the vulture-like bird to a fate unknown.

THE SNAKE:

That thar is a snake

The story, “The Snake” involves a man who runs into a large snake on his property, and he chops its head off. The next day his chickens are missing and he runs into a bigger snake and slices its head off. Over and over this happens with bigger and bigger animals missing and a bigger and bigger (presumably the same) snake getting its head lopped off… Until one day, the farmer runs into a snake that is bigger than most of his farm (and that just ate his horse!), and the farmer runs away and locks himself up in his farm forever. In a way this is anti-climatic, but you can’t just have the snake bite the farmer’s head off to show him how it feels in a children’s book. Hee hee hee.

Holeee crub!

THE HUNTER:

"The Hunter" has the best illustrations in the book. The story is about a "fierce" hunter name Humber and his three hounds, Sniffem, Chasem, and Catchem. The hounds are great at tracking and cornering live prey... but the prey isn't always ferocious...

Poor teddy

This sometimes frustrates the hunter. Then the hunter discovers the HUGE footprints of the Gumberoo! He makes sure the dogs have the scent of the Gumberoo and nothing else, and the dogs go for it. They track for many hours, well into the night. Humbert sits to reast and BOOM the Gumberoo literally runs him over...

Gumberoo squish mighty hunter

getting its smelly oily fur all over the hunter... uh oh. Needless to say, the dogs smell the hunter and and he is chased until who knows what end.

And that is all the stories in this awesome little tome of scary/funny stories. I hope you can find it and love it. Oh, and a fun fact before you go. George Mendoza wrote another book featuring the Gumberoo called The Hunter, the Tick, and the Gumberoo (illustrated by Philip Wende)... but it isn't recommended for kids because (from what I understand) the hunter in that book ends up incedently committing suicide (by blowing his head...off). I'd like to see this other "Gumberoo" book someday and I hope to.

In 1989 a part 2, sort of, to this book was released. It was simply titled Hairticklers and it was illustrated by the multi-talented Gahan Wilson. It has 13 more "scary" stories to make your kids squirm.

So, goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let the Zipperump-a-Zoos bite... and don't let the Gumberoo step on you either!

George Mendoza: An Intoduction to a Prolific Author, Poet, and World Traveller

2011-08-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

I started writing a blog about one of George Mendoza's books, and while doing so, I ran into a lot of dead ends about who exactly he is/was. So, I am going to share what information I do have.

When was George Mendoza born? I don’t know. I believe it was around 1935. A 1967 dust jacket calls him “young.” This could mean anything, but I take it to mean he was in his early 30’s because I think his first book was And Amedeo Asked, How Does One Become a Man?, a 42 page novella from 1959. So, he was about 24 at that time… So he is possibly turning 76 this year (if he is still alive). In 1955, he was married to Cindi Huber, but they divorced shortly after their son, George Mendoza Jr., was born (he is now a nearly blind artist and athlete and has written about three books). In May of 1971 George Mendoza (Sr) was 36 and he had a 2 year-old daughter. He was re-married by this time and this wife was possibly Nicole Sakora-Mendoza (this is just speculation based on the fact that this name appears in a few credits in his books).

A 1975 dust jacket states that George Mendoza also has written Television and Movie scripts. The only one that I could find was the one he co-wrote in 1978 with Michel Legrand , the ABC Afterschool Special Michel’s Mixed-up Musical Bird (they also wrote the book together). The book was illustrated by DePatie-Freeleng Enterprises Inc (mostly by an illustrator named Yakutis… who I think is Tom Yakutis who died in 2002). One article online states that he wrote/helped create things for Sesame Street, but if he did, credit hasn’t been given.

George Mendoza wrote a ton of books in the late 60’s and during the 70’s (and a few in the 1980s and a couple in the 90’s). Chances are, if you have a lot of “vintage” children’s books from this time period, you have a book or two by him. His works have been illustrated by Mercer Mayer (the rare Gillygoofang and The Crack in the Wall & Other Terribly Weird Tales), Steven Kellogg (GWOT! Horribly Funny Hairticklers), Eric Carle (The Scarecrow Clock), Joelle Boucher (Henri Mouse series), Norman Rockwell (sort of… Mr. Mendoza wrote a lot of books that have his paintings in them like Norman Rockwell’s Americana ABC and the Norman Rockwell Illustrated Cookbook), Peter Parnall (The Inspector), Doris Susan Smith (Need a House? Call Ms. Mouse!), photographer Sheldon Secunda (What I Want to be When I Grow Up featuring Carol Burnett and the Sesame Street Book of Opposites with Zero Mostel), photographer Milton H. Greene (The Marcel Marceau Alphabet Book), Robert Quackenbush (The Scribbler), the hands of Prassana Rao (Shadowplay), and many more.

Let me make a quick note here for the parents of young children… some of Mendoza’s books are controversial because of how graphic they are. I don’t own a lot of his that are in this category (yet), but I know about them from people talking about them. Like any children’s book, read it yourself first. If the head falling off in the book In A Dark, Dark Room by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Dirk Zimmer (not Mendoza) doesn’t bother you or your children, then most of Mendoza’s stuff probably won’t either… but just be aware of it. Also remember, most kids can deal with more than you may believe, but YOU have control over what goes into their heads. Kids obsess over the oddest things. The previously mentioned Alvin Schwartz book includes the story “The Green Ribbon” and that was one of my biggest “freak out” obsessions as a kid.

GWOT! was George Mendoza’s “first book for children” per the dust jacket. Previously he had written The Hawk is Humming, A Piece of String (illustrated by Norma-Jean Koplin), many articles for Pageant magazine, and a lot more. By 1975, he had published over 100 books…. Probably a lot more from then through now. I have no idea if he is dead or alive. I just know that he was from Long Island (born in New York), he went to the State University of New York Maritime College and Columbia University. He loved boating in the 1950’s and 1960’s and he sailed, by himself, from New York to England on multiple occasions. He has lived in Connecticut (in New York), Paris (France), and many other places. He considers himself a poet, sailor, trout fisherman, and of course a writer. His last two known books were Traffic Jam illustrated by David Stoltz (May 1990) and Were You a Wild Duck, Where Would You Go illustrated by Jane Osborn-Smith (June 1990)… and he was never heard from again. In 1975, when asked he wanted to be when he was a little boy he stated, “An adventurer like Jack London. Now I only want to be a bird with long feathers.” He may have retired, passed away, or became a wild duck and flew away to places he did not reveal in his last book. In August of 2005, George Mendoza was still living in New York and experiencing health problems (per this article about his son).

I don’t know where you are now Mr. Mendoza – a hidden trout stream in a mountain retreat, a bird flying free, sailing uncharted waters, sipping rare coffee in Paris, in the great beyond, at a McDonald's in New York City, or somewhere else – but thank you for your books, your words, and your addition to (warping of? ha ha) children’s minds everywhere.

The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek by Steve Senn: A Review and Appreciation

2011-07-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

While moving from heavily illustrated books to chapter books, I had a few milestone books that I loved. To name a few: The first few books of The Little Vampire series by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg (My Friend the Vampire, The Vampire Moves In, Vampire in Love, etc…); the Bunnicula series by James Howe; the Soup series of books by Robert Newton Peck; and the one I’m going to talk about today, The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek by Steve Senn.

The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek (the version I had as a child was the Avon Camelot, 1985 paperback) by Steve Senn is a book I remember quite well from my early years of reading (although the name eluded me for YEARS). This book also introduced me to Science Fiction. I think I was a curious 9-year-old at the time when I picked the 1985 paperback up at a local bookstore. The sight of a boy waking up next to a dinosaur in the other twin bed in his bedroom – both with shocked looks on their faces – was enough for me to get it.

The story involves a human boy waking up one day in another dimension exactly like his own except this new-to-him universe is populated by anthropomorphic dinosaurs (human-acting dinosaurs). In this other dimension, humans are extinct and the dinosaurs do the exact same things that humans did in Walter’s home dimension. Much time is spent disguising Walter to look like a dinosaur so he doesn’t freak out the dinosaur population. Later the pseudo-science of inter-dimensional time travel is explained down to a fourth or fifth grade level. I remember being utterly fascinated and accepting it all as fact (major willing suspension of disbelief). There isn’t any “magic” involved, but it isn’t ultra-real science either. Just stuff kids can digest. This book made me interested in Fantasy and Science Fiction and shortly after it I was reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series and Piers Anthony’s Xanth series.

Although I had no idea of it at the time, Steve Senn illustrated this book too (he didn’t do the paperback’s cover though, just the inner illustrations). The very cute line drawings were one thing that I really remembered about this book.

In 2009 a local bookstore of mine sadly closed and sold off their inventory. While filling a $5 bag of books I found a green hardcover of The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek without a dust-jacket. The cover looks like green, bumpy, leathery dinosaur skin (probably just leather-like). It also has an embossed picture on the front board of what looks like a happy dinosaur on it. I had no idea that this book had been in hardcover and my paperback was lost long ago. Of course, I purchased it the green volume. I even put a picture on Amazon of it.

Sometime in 2010, I figured out that Steve Senn is also known as Oscar Senn (I think Steve or Steven is his middle name, but I’ve read somewhere that Oscar is his middle name too). I found his website and wrote him a fan letter. We emailed back and forth and he sent me a picture of the original illustrated (by him!) dust-jacket for The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek hardcover (since mine was missing a dust jacket). I shared this picture on Amazon too.

The dust-jacket clearly states “Written and illustrated by Steve Senn.” During these conversations, it was pointed out to me that the “happy dinosaur” embossed picture was actually put on the book upside down by the publisher. I turned my copy over, and lo and behold, a very normal looking triceratops!

Further research uncovered that in 1985, there was an animated special of this book on CBS Storybreak (hosted by Robert Keeshan AKA Captain Kangaroo). I haven’t seen this animated short (about 30 minutes or less), but I’d love to.

The cover of the 1985 paperback (at the top of this blog) is by Tom Newsom and is based on an inner illustration by Mr. Senn that he drew in 1980.

Tom Newsom is a prolific artist. I have a ton of books with his art on the cover (Lynne Reid Banks’ The Indian in the Cupboard, James Howe’s Celery Stalks at Midnight, Ellen Conford’s Diary of a Monster’s Son, three more of Mr. Senn’s books, and many more). He also has painted some pretty popular Santa Claus art.

If you really enjoyed this book, there are two more written in the same universe…so to speak. Not the dinosaur universe, but Walter’s “normal” universe. These books are Ralph Fozbek and the Amazing Black Hole Patrol (Avon Camelot, 1986) and Loonie Louie Meets the Space Fungus (Avon Camelot, 1991: Steve Senn writing as Oscar Steven Senn). Both feature boys having science-fiction-y fantastic adventures and are quite fun.

That's all for now. Join us next time for... RRRAWWWWRRR! AAAaaaaarrrrggghhh!!! Dinosaaaaaaurrrrr! I've gotta run... fast!

Oscar Senn AKA Steve Senn: A Bibliography and Introduction

2011-07-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Oscar Senn (AKA Steve Senn, Oscar Steven Senn, Steve Oscar Senn, etc…) as he is known to his friends and family, is best known as an author (mostly as "Steve Senn") and artist (as "Oscar Senn"). He was born in Americus, Georgia in 1950 and was raised in Dawson. He went to school at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida. He worked for The Florida Times-Union and the Miami Herald newspapers as an illustrator (I’d love to see these). He also worked as an Art Director in Jacksonville, Florida. He moved to Los Angeles, California for a while where he was also an Art Director, and I believe he currently resides in Jacksonville, Florida again.

Being a "book" blog, I will be mostly focusing on Oscar/Steve's books. ha ha.

His first book, writing as Steve Senn, was The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek (Hastings House, 1980) and it is one of his best known books. I have a blog that will be posted later about it on here. It is about a boy who wakes up in a different universe that is exactly like his own… except everything that was Human is now Dinosaur. The book was released in paperback format from Avon/Camelot five years later (1985). Later that same year, there was an animated CBS Storybreak episode of it. Mr. Senn illustrated the cover (of the hardcover version) and the book itself. The paperback’s cover looks like it was done by Tom Newsom (one the GREAT unsung heroes of the illustrator world; if you have a lot of kid’s paperbacks from the 80’s you probably have some of Mr. Newsom’s work… or even if you have some Celestial Seasoning’s boxes in your cupboard!).

Next came Mr. Senn’s books for young Science Fiction / Fantasy readers, the Spacebread series of books; Spacebread (Atheneum, 1981) and Born of Flame: A Spacebread Story (Atheneum, 1982). They are about a swashbuckling interstellar cat named Spacebread and her adventures in the universe. These books are Sci-fi/Fantasy for young adults, and kids should eat ‘em up… if you can find them. The covers were painted by the author, and the first book, Spacebread, is illustrated Mr. Senn too. The character of Spacebread is based on a real Persian kitty that Mr. Senn had for several years in the mid-seventies. As far as I know, the two Spacebread books have only been available in hardcover.

A Circle in the Sea (Atheneum, 1981) came next. This book is hard to find at an affordable price, but the story is excellent. I just interlibrary loaned it because I finally gave up the search. Stupidly, I didn’t write down the copyright info before I gave it back! I believe it is so hard to find because so many who have read it LOVE it so much. The author told me that this book is his “best stuff in print.” It is about a girl who receives an ancient ring that gives her the power to transfer her essence/mind into the body of a dolphin named Breee. An “adaptation” of this book was reprinted in a textbook called Blueprints by Virginia A. Arnold and Carl B. Smith (Macmillan Publishing Company, 1989; part of the Macmillan Connection Reading Program) under the title “A Gift From the Sea” (which is the title of one of the chapters of the book).

I compared these a bit when I had A Circle in the Sea from the library. The 20 page “adaptation” is very short and it cuts out some of the scarier elements (like how the ring was still attached to a finger!), and it is newly illustrated by Warren Chang. The original hardcover’s dust-jacket was painted by Mr. Senn and it is beautiful. I believe A Circle in the Sea was released only as a hardcover.

Next: In the Castle of the Bear (Atheneum, 1985). This is a tale that can capture many imaginations and possibly even disturb you a bit too. It is about a young boy, Jason, who secretly writes poetry and how he deals with his inner demons including his mother’s death and a possible witch named Lauren who also happens to be his new stepmother. As a “child of divorce” I can see how this book could really effect and fascinate some readers, but I’ve always had loving step-parents (yeah… more than one) that I’ve never had ill-feelings about (but I also didn’t have a parent die first). Jason’s emotions are strong, and Mr. Senn conveys them in his words very well. The front of the dust-jacket is painted by Mr. Senn, and the back of the dust-jacket has an illustration featuring “the Bear” also drawn by Mr. Senn. Also, if you have this book, take off the dust jacket and look at the beautiful copper colored foil-stamping on the book cover. Nice. I believe this was released only in hardcover.

After that comes a sequel (well, sort-of) to Double Disappearance called: Ralph Fozbek and the Amazing Black Hole Patrol (Avon Camelot, 1986). If you’ve read Double Disappearance, you will recognize some of the characters (like Dr. Krebnickel and Ralph himself who were both in Double Disappearance!). Mr. Senn illustrated the book, and Tom Newsome did the cover of the paperback (no hardcover was released as far as I know). This book also features Loonie Louie Fabmyer who got his own book in this series in 1991. Also in this book, the town gets a name “Fogville” (I really don’t remember it getting mentioned in the first book), because of the name of the town and the changing main characters, this could be called The Fogville Series. Mr. Senn’s illustration style choice changed a bit in this book.

The next book by Steve Senn is The Sand Witch (Avon Camelot, 1987). The title, an obvious pun, tells us that there is a witch in this book… and she lives on the beach. Running in at less than 100 pages, this book is a quick read. Don’t let the silly title stop you, this book is a fun jaunt. Two kids, Frick and Jenny (yes, I said “Frick”…odd name) become obsessed over the possibility that their neighbor is a witch, but that is only the beginning of this story. The Science-Fiction twist in this book really thrilled me as a younger reader. Again, Steve Senn’s inner illustration style choice changed; this time they remind me of Ron Barrett’s style). Tom Newsom’s cover painting is very fun, and it also is based on a couple of Mr. Senn’s inner illustrations. Paperback only.

Steve Senn’s last published book for children was another Fogville book, Loonie Louie Meets the Space Fungus (Avon Camelot, 1991) which was written under the name Oscar Steven Senn. Because of the name change, I totally missed this book growing up. Okay, that was a lie, I was too busy reading Piers Anthony and Christopher Pike to notice a “kid’s book.” I didn’t realize this book existed when I first started researching Steve Senn in 2009. It is the second sequel (so to speak) of The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbek. The cover is illustrated by Tom Newsom again, but this time, sadly, Mr. Senn did not illustrate the book at all (which may have been a budgetary choice made by Avon Camelot). Paperback only.

In September 2010, Oscar Senn had an art exhibit called The Hard Time Saints. In collaboration with this event Hedgehog Books released a very limited dust-jacketed hardcover called The Hard Time Saints: Miraculous New Work by Oscar Senn. It is about 20 pages and is filled with the art that was displayed and his own thoughts on each piece. The idea behind these paintings originated in the Catholic Holy Cards, but these are more “common saints.” Oscar Senn’s write-ups are awe-filling and the artwork will enthrall you. He even includes the “cast-off” black and white pictures (purchased at flea markets mostly) that some of the paintings are based on. I bought my copy directly from Mr. Senn (and he signed it “For Robert – Blessings from a weird universe”). If you go to his website and contact him, he may have others left for sale or you can order it from the blurb website. Hardcover only.

Here are the names of some of Osacr Senn’s award winning but uncollected and possibly unpublished stories: “The Blood of Eden” (2003), “The Unexpected Guest” (2006, AKA “An Unexpected Guest” available on his website), “The Wall” (2002) and “Squeeby Rolic” (2006, available on his website).

Since his last children’s book, Oscar Senn has been mostly making a name for himself in the art world. His paintings are things of beauty! Many of his paintings feature the world from a child’s perspective and point of view. His turtle ones alone could easily make an award winning children’s book (he has had many turtle pets). He is represented in Los Angeles by Couturier Gallery on La Brea. In Florida he is represented by Fairfax Gallery in Ponte Vedra. He was featured in Fresco Fine Art Publications’ 2008 book Picturing Florida : From the First Coast to the Space Coast by KahrenJones Arbitman and Susan Gallo, Edition 3 of The Artful Home: The GUILD Sourcebook of Residential Art (2005, GUILD LLC). Every once in awhile, you will run into a spot illustration in a book like his small illustrations for The Alphabet that Changed the World: How Genesis Preserves a Science of Conciousness in Geometry and Gesture by Stan Tenen (North Atlantic Books, 2011). He even wrote a chapter in Donna Hicken’s book The Good Fight (Closet Publishing, 2004). Pathways to Awareness: How to Chart Your Own Spiritual Freedom (Hedgehog Books/Mystic Books, 2005) by David Keel featured Oscar Senn’s layout and design (and he may have done the cover art).

Surprisingly, you may also run into his stuff on your child’s toy shelf (or a fellow cubical dweller’s shelf in the case of his Pet Peeves plush stuffed animals or his Star Wars and Star Trek designs!).

Cellephant

Let me put it this way… Oscar Senn does Design Work (like Logo Design and Toy Design), Fine Art Painting, fiction writing, illustrates, and probably a million other things. Talent ooooooozes from this man’s pores! Give his books a try (or give them to your kids to try). Give his art a gander (I’d buy some if I could). I hope to see more from him in the future. Go to his website and check out more info: http://www.originalsenn.com/

PS: Mr. Senn, if you’re reading this, please give the possibility of e-publishing your out-of-print books a deep thought or two.

PPS: He even illustrated the Stephen King/Peter Straub dust-jacket for the French hardcover edition of The Talisman, called Le Talisman Des Territoires:

Mercer Mayer: The Newly Re-Discovered 70s Penthouse Magazine Illustrations! A Book 'em Bob exclusive!

2011-07-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

As – what I assumed to be – a gag gift last year, I received a group of Penthouse: The International Magazine for Men magazines most of which were released during the year of my birth, 1975. I flipped through them and I put them away for awhile. While discussing some authors online, it was mentioned that some of my favorite writers had works in these magazines and that was why they were given to me (WilliamKotzwinkle, Nick Tosches, J. G. Ballard, Cameron Crowe, Peter Benchley, and more). So, they came out of storage, and I started reading them (really, for the articles, ha ha).

While reading, I discovered that I enjoyed the humor of a semi-regular columnist named Henry Morgan ("The Original Bad Boy of Broadcasting"). Henry Morgan, who was born in March of 1915 and died in May of 1994, was a humorist. He was an actor, a comedian, a game show host, a radio personality, and a writer. He wrote about 50 or more humor columns for Penthouse magazine from 1970 to 1976. I do not have all of these issues (not even close, ha ha), but I went through the ones that I have in order to read these articles and most are pretty darn funny.

Now, why am I mentioning this? Well, it turns out that Mercer Mayer illustrated some of Henry Morgan’s articles! THE Mercer Mayer! The “Little Critter” and “Little Monster” children’s author/illustrator Mercer Mayer! I found four illustrations in the magazines I have, and he may have done many more for all I know. This information isn’t anywhere on the internet (until now)! What’s that you say? “Why isn't it out there, Robert?” Well, I haven’t put it out there yet, that's why! Ha ha. Just kidding (sort of). Actually, the illustrations are not credited at all to anyone except for Mercer Mayer’s signature in or around each illustration). He isn’t mentioned in the credits of the magazines at all either. His name isn’t even in small print near his illustrations (like it is on most of the other illustrations in these magazines). I only caught that they were him immediately upon seeing the pictures, because I’ve studied his works so much and I recognize his style from this time period.

Most of Henry Morgan’s articles are illustrated by other people, and I found only four that are definitely illustrated by Mercer Mayer out of the magazines I have. As I've said, there may have been more because I certainly don’t have every issue of this magazine from this time period, and I don't really want to buy every 70's issue just to flip through and see if there are more Mercer Mayer pics. Keeping the dozen I have locked away from the kids is hard enough.

In each case, Mercer Mayer’s illustrations are based on the articles they accompany. So, I assume that Mr. Mayer was sent a copy of the Mr. Morgan’s write-up, and then he drew the picture.

"Okay Tribesmen..." top right part (cut off)

"Okay Tribesmen..."almost bottom, left part (cut off)

Illustration for “Okay Tribesmen, Now Hear This” by Henry Morgan in Penthouse: The International Magazine for Men, Vol. 5, #10, June 1974. Illustration on page 98. Now, while this picture is great, it does contain nudity and eroticism. So, I am not going to post most of the picture (sorry, you will have to get the magazine on eBay or at Amazon if you want to see how Mercer Mayer draws panties, naked butts and breasts). His signature is on a rock at the bottom right of the whole picture (not in this picture). Like many children’s illustrators, even Mercer Mayer has one or two “naughty” illustrations in his past. When I first saw this one, I was a little shocked, but not appalled. He shows lust and native nudism in a very fun way and there is nothing overtly "nasty" about it. Art wise, it is much better than most of the “naughty” cartoon illustrators of this time period.

"Good Eats"

Illustration for “Good Eats” by Henry Morgan in Penthouse:The International Magazine for Men, Vol. 6, #5, January 1975. Illustration on page 80. This is a great picture filled with everything I love of Mercer Mayer’s 1970s work (his signature is on the table at the bottom right-hand side). Just look at that snooty waiter! Awesome! That (freshly killed? Yikes!) polar bear looks delicious! There is even an octopus that looks like he’s been waiting 35 years for a color change in order to reappear in Octopus Soup 35 years later. Ha ha. Also, like in the others, Mercer Mayer doesn’t pay full attention to the frame and goes over it on purpose. This makes the older woman in the front really pop out and it gives the work some more depth (along with her ample cleavage, ha ha).

"Another Damn Year is Under Way"

Illustration for “Another Damn Year is Under Way” by Henry Morgan in Penthouse: The International Magazine for Men, Vol. 6, #6, February 1975. Illustration on page 82. Another humorous gem of a drawing! That housewife looks tired but unfazed while cooking and ironing at the same time! The Newspaper says “The News,” “Arabs Bomb Yonkers,” “Flash,” “No Swedes Left in Sweden,” and “After All…. Tomorrow is Another Day” (the book at the bottom is “Gone With the Wind”). While looking in the dark corners of this room:

I find myself searching (fruitlessly) for the spider and grasshopper that are hidden in the Little Critter books. Ha ha.

"The Irish"

Illustration for “The Irish” by Henry Morgan in Penthouse:The International Magazine for Men, Vol. 6, #7, March 1975. Illustration on page 80. The baby makes this one a personal favorite:

that and the demure pig:

Plus, you have got to love that cable knit sweater too! The “Mickey Go Home” sign and title of the article can give you an idea of what Henry Morgan’s write-up is about.

I have written Mercer Mayer twice (once last year and once this year) asking him about his Magazine work and what magazines he was in (I only mentioned three of the four that I had found at the time), but the only response he could give me recently was, "I can't add anything more right now, but who knows what the future will bring?" I don’t want to bother him by pushing the subject with further emails, but I hope he kept some kind of record. I’ve seen his work for Harper’s Magazine in 1967 (children’s book illustrator Roy McKie has illustrations in a lot of the same issues). Mercer Mayer also did book cover work for Harper & Row and Dial in 1967 (like the 1st American printings of Logan’s Run and The Master and Margarita). There’s probably a lot more magazine and book appearances by Mercer Mayer that I don’t know about (see his bibliography on Wikipedia for what I do know, and I will be adding these magazines to that list too). Feel free to tell me about them if you see them... PLEASE!

Have you ever wished you could go through an illustrator’s rough draft pile? *Sigh* That is a dream my heart yearns to do. I hope Mercer Mayer gives his originals and roughs to a museum somewhere so they can tour it all around for fans everywhere or at least have a “Mercer Mayer Archive” or “Mercer Mayer Collection” that can be perused. Can you imagine how many unpublished pieces of art he must have from the last 45 years! I can only pray he didn’t “recycle” them! YIKES!

It is lost masterpieces like these Penthouse works that really make me wish there was a Mercer Mayer Art Book that collected them. Maurice Sendak has a couple of great ones (The Art of Maurice Sendak and The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 - Present). Why not Mercer Mayer? I’d gladly put it together! I’m volunteering here. So, if there are any interested publishers out there, contact me, please! Of course, Mercer Mayer would need to be interested in such a project/product too.

With that:

Goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let the Zipperump-a-zoos bite,

Robert Brouhard

Mercer Mayer Versus Maurice Sendak: My Thoughts on the Subject

2011-07-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

While growing up in the 1970's, I had my favorite books. There were eight total; four in one little box, and four in another little box. One set of books had words, and the other didn’t. These box sets were The Nutshell Library by Maurice Sendak (1962, containing: Alligators all Around, One was Johnny, Chicken Soup with Rice, and Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue) and Four Frogs in a Box by Mercer Mayer (1976, containing: A Boy, a Dog and a Frog; Frog Where are You; A Boy, a Dog, a Frog and a Friend; and Frog on His Own). Like many of my “precious” childhood favorites, my mother has my Nutshell Library set of books at her house.

Now, I’ve heard that others have had some confusion over these two illustrators. Many claiming that Mercer Mayer is overly influenced by Maurice Sendak. I even heard people give credit to Mercer Mayer for writing some of Maurice Sendak's works (and vice versa)!

I had similar thoughts when I was very young because The Nutshell Library and Four Frogs in a Box were both small boxes of four books... but that was about it.

Now to examine these similarities:

Firstly, Maurice Sendak (born in 1928) started having his illustrations published in 1947. Mercer Mayer (born in 1943) first had his illustrations published in 1967. That is a 20 year difference (and they are close to that in their age difference). So, it is very possible that Mercer Mayer was very aware of Maurice Sendak's work. Sendak's work was popular, and it is even possible that a publisher told Mercer Mayer to do something “similar” in order to be published.

Secondly, they do both have a couple of “boy”-style characters that appear in a lot of their works. They both have dark-haired boys that they’ve used for their characters. For Maurice Sendak, this is probably his “Pierre” archetype (which may have started in some of his early illustrations for Ruth Krauss books like A Hole is to Dig). Mercer Mayer’s “boy”-character probably started with the unnamed boy in A Boy, a Dog and a Frog book and developed into many other similar looking/feeling boys in Terrible Troll, There's a Nightmare in My Closet, I am a Hunter, A Special Trick, Bubble Bubble, You’re the Scaredy Cat, etc (and also with slightly different color hair or glasses in If I Had…, Mine, A Silly Story, and others)… plus some of his illustrations for other authors like in The Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald, Outside My Window (Liesel Moak Skorpen), Margaret’s Birthday (Jan Wahl), Grandmother Told Me (Jan Wahl), Boy Was I Mad (Kathryn Hitte), The Boy Who Made a Million (Sidney Offit), etc… BUT Maurice Sendak and Mercer Mayer are both men, and they were dark-haired boys once. It only makes sense for them to take influences from their own lives.

One specific comparison that I’ve heard has been Mercer Mayer’s There’s a Nightmare in My Closet versus Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. One is about a boy dealing with his fears and getting over it (Nightmare). The other is about a boy who goes to a fantasy land because he’s mad at his mother but comes home eventually (Wild Things). The Wild Things characters aren’t an object of fear in Maurice Sendak’s book; they are what the boy wants to be. The Nightmare character in Mercer Mayer’s book is an object of fear that the boy deals with and overcomes. Yes, they both have (very different looking) monsters, but that is about it. To be honest, I really don't get this comparison.

If you actually want to compare two books, you’d have to look at Maurice Sendak’s Very Far Away (1957) and Boy, Was I Mad! (1969, written by Kathryn Hitte and illustrated by Mercer Mayer).

Both feature boys in very different looking cowboy hats and boots running away; one is a dark-haired boy who is “mad” because he got in trouble and had to sit quietly in the corner (Boy, Was I Mad!), and the other is a light-haired boy who is “upset” because of a new sibling and not being listened to (Very Far Away). The comparisons end there. The two boy’s “adventures” while running away are very different. Sendak’s boy meets a bunch of talking animals that are also running away. Hitte/Mayer’s boy meets real-life characters. It is only the running away cowboy-dressed boys that are similar (and the Mercer Mayer design was probably Kathryn Hitte’s idea). But, boys dressed as cowboys and boys running away are common themes and who knows if anyone was influenced by anyone else. Also, Maurice Sendak tends to use a minimalist approach for his drawings in Very Far Away, and Mercer Mayer's are very detailed and rich in Boy, Was I Mad!. So, maybe there really isn't anything here to compare.

Thirdly, maybe people just get confused because their first names start with "M." Could it be that simple? Maybe. Maurice Mayer and Mercer Sendak... oops... I mean Mayer Sendak and Mercer Maurice... oops... Yeah, maybe....

So, my conclusion is this. Mercer Mayer may have been slightly "influenced" by Maurice Sendak. I know he respects Maurice Sendak from comments of his that I've read. I am also sure that people come up to Mercer Mayer all the time and tell how much they love (insert Maurice Sendak title here... probably Where the Wild Things Are). Who knows, maybe people come up to Maurice Sendak and tell him how much they love Little Critter?

There are plenty of "similar" books out there by other authors and illustrators, and I may break some out and share them on here in the future. In the meantime, "Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the Zipperump-a-zoos bite!"

Walt Disney's Surprise Package is a SURPRISE indeed!

2011-06-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

While going through a pile of books at a garage sale recently, I ran across a beauty of an oversized book called Walt Disney's Surprise Package. It wasn't in the best condition, but I noticed some things in it that really "surprised" me.

Details for the edition I am talking about: Walt Disney's Surprise Package, First Printing, Simon and Schuster, 1944 (that's right, 1944!). Illustrated by Walt Disney Studio. Stories adapted by H. Marion Palmer (I believe that is Helen Marion Palmer) from originals by Hans Christian Anderson, Lewis Carroll, Kenneth Grahame, Sir James M. Barrie, Joel Chandler Harris (Uncle Remus), "The Walt Disney Studio," English Folk Tales, and Serge Prokofieff. 94 pages! My edition doesn't have a dust jacket, but I've read that it did have one originally.

The first thing I noticed was the cover...

Walt Disney's Surprise Package (front cover)

Who are those "Disney" characters? Well, let's find out, follow me. Let's open the front cover... Ooooh, nice and fun endpapers!

Walt Disney's Surprise Package (endpapers)

Now, as I flipped through this book, I noticed familiar stories, but the pictures weren't quite right. It slowly dawned on me that this book came out BEFORE most of the film adaptations of these stories came out! This book is filled with the original story ideas and original drawings that would finally become some of Disney's best loved films. In many ways, it is like a concept art and story book.

Let's continue our journey to the first story.

The first story in the book is "Through the Picture Frame" (adapted from the Hans Christian Anderson story). This was also released as a separate book in 1944 by Simon and Schuster adapted by Robert Edmunds, but with the same illustrations as a part of "Walt Disney's Little Library" set of books. Here is the cover of that edition:

Through the Picture Frame (front cover)

This story deserves its own book (and as you can see, they did just that, but I don't own that version so I can't compare)! It is almost 20 pages of the Surprise Package book. I am very surprised that Disney never animated this story. But, if the other stories in this book show us anything, they probably started.

Now, I am going to give you a full page view of how this book (Walt Disney's Surprise Package) is designed. If you've had any Golden Book single volume collections, you've probably seen similar layouts (except this book is much larger than most of those, height-wise). The pictures and text are interspersed. They co-mingle on the page. Some pictures are splashed across the width of the book, but most are smaller. Some are color, and some are black & white. Here's an example:

layout example

Our next selection is "Brer Rabbit en His Satchel Uv Gold." Now, Song of the South would come out two years after this book. So, Disney was working on it for sure. This particular story has two characters that didn't make it into Song of the South: Brer Lion and Brer Wolf. The illustrations aren't too great, but the story has all the charm of most of the Uncle Remus tales.

Brer Rabbit, Brer Wolf, and Brer Fox

After that is "The Emperor's New Clothes." From what I've read on the Internet, this was planned as an animated short, but Disney never completed it. So this story is a great addition to the book, and 10 illustrations are included that all have a great Disney flare to them.

The closest thing I've seen from Disney to this story and illustration style was the Disneyland Record and Book (remember those...see the picture, hear the story, read the book?) called Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes (click the link to see a picture of the cover). But that book didn't capture the delightful snootiness of the little Emperor in this version.

Next, "The Little Fir Tree." This is another example of a Disney short that was never made. One source, Wikipedia, lists it as a part of a film that was being worked on called Tales of Hans Christian Andersen which was scheduled to include "The Emperor’s New Clothes" (see above), "The Emperor’s Nightingale," "Through the Picture Frame" (see above), "The Little Fir Tree" (what I am talking about right now), "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," and the "Little Mermaid" (which probably would have been very different then our modern Disney version). This film was never finished as far as I know.

from "The Little Fir Tree"

You can see the sketch quality in the above picture. Very much like a storyboard picture. Plus the bunnies are kind of Thumper-esque (Disney's Bambi film came out two years prior, 1942). CUTE!

NOW. The next piece is called "Lady." This story is what would eventually become Lady and the Tramp in 1955 but it is not exactly the same. Firstly, there is NO Tramp! *GASP* The evil Siamese Cats are there though, and they are the villains that would eventually become the rat in the final filmed version. The book lists the original author as "Walt Disney Studio," but future books based on the film usually cite Ward Greene as the original author of the story. The 6 pictures in this book a very different then the film that would come out over 10 years later. The picture I am including show how the format really works for this particular set of illustrations.

If you love Lady and the Tramp, I've heard Disney's Lady and the Tramp: The Sketchbook Series has some excellent stuff in it. I don't know if the drawings from this book are in there though. Little Golden Books would eventually release a book called Walt Disney's Lady, in 1954, one year before the film. But it is just adapted by Samuel Armstrong from what the film version was going to be at that point and it is not the same as this original story. The Tramp is in that version, and it also has a different ending which is also rat free (and the whole book is CAT free for that matter, weird!). It ends with a FIRE!

Yes, I am a Lady and the Tramp fan. So the new-to-me version of "Lady" in Walt Disney's Surprise Package makes this an awesome book indeed.

"Chicken Little" is next. The short film of this story came out in 1943 (the year BEFORE this book, and it is available on DVD along with some other great shorts). So, the pictures look exactly like that film including the yo-yo wielding titular character.

Next, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." This adaption is amazing. It is filled with awesome Disney illustrations that look nothing like the final 1951 film (7 years after this book). I don't know if the 30 pictures included in this book have ever made it into another book. If you are an Alice fan, YOU MUST HAVE THIS BOOK! Look at this example:

Nice, right? The only thing that is the same is Alice's dress (colors and pattern). The story is almost 20 pages long too. The length tells me that there may be a separate edition of this out there somewhere (like the Walt Disney's Little Library version of Through the Picture Frame). I haven't seen it, but I am sure it is out there.

Next comes, "The Wind in the Willows" (or the second part of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, as some of us grew up knowing it, ha ha). The illustrations in this story are almost exactly like the final film version (1949, 5 years later!)! Disney had their character design totally down in 1944. The 11 pictures are crisp and fun.

Mr. Toad on a wild ride

Next we have, "Peter Pan and the Pirates." This story was in the sketch stage at Disney studios when this book came out. The film would eventually come out in 1953 (titled Peter Pan, of course). The 13 illustrations have the overall feel that would eventually become the characters in the final film.

Lost Boys in "Peter Pan and the Pirates"

There is a picture that has Tinkerbell in it, but she is so tiny she just looks like a glowing dragonfly, but if you look at the front cover (top of the page)... Do you see that black haired, angry looking pixie? There aren't any other pixies in this book! It could be the original concept of Tink!

Disney was pretty close to their final character concepts at this stage. Here is Captain Hook and Wendy:

"Peter and the Wolf" comes next. Does that get the music started in your head? I know it does for me. The illustrations in this story aren't very close to the final film. This is surprising since Make Mine Music (which features this short film and some others) would only come out two years later in 1946. Maybe the stylized illustrations were a conscious choice by the Disney studio for this book, who knows?

I still like the illustrations, they are just... different.

Next comes "The Square World" based on the story written by "The Walt Disney Studio." The illustrations for this story are so unlike most Disney productions it is shocking, and they were working on making an animated film of it too. Sadly, the film was never finished. There are six illustrations in this book.

Obviously, there are some World War II themes going on here! The basic plot is about a being named "The Mighty-Highty-Tighty" who wants everyone in the land to look like him... square. This very short story is stupendous and it is a great allegory for how wrong prejudice and racism are. Here is one more picture (of racial harmony).

Are those Barbapapa? Nope, they're "The Square World" kids.

Last, but not least, comes "Happy Valley." This one features Mickey, Donald, and Goofy!

I don't usually keep my cheese in the fruit bowl, but it looks nice.

If that picture is ringing a bell, it might be because this story would eventually be part of the 1947 film Fun and Fancy Free in a section called "Mickey and the Beanstalk." BUT, this story is different. Mickey trades his cow to the Queen (Minnie Mouse) who gives him the magic beans that will do different things depending on how the moon is. The beans are planted and the beanstalk carries the house high into the clouds. Now, let's cut to the end of the story....during the shape shifting of the Giant into a big bunny rabbit. After he does the rabbit, he makes himself into a super giant, but then while making himself smaller again, he gets too small (and younger). He becomes so young he forgets the magic words to change himself into anything he wants. Mickey and friends carry the giant back to their house via piggyback where they fall asleep. By morning, the beanstalk has shrunk (because the moon was different). Then they go see the queen and she pardons the giant and she gives him a job as her footman. Oh, and they use what some consider an un-politically correct term by calling him the oxymoron "midget giant."

Mickey, Minnie, and the not-so-giant giant

And that, readers, is the end of this huge children's story collection. Goodies galore! I could have done a blog on each story!

If you look hard enough, you can find this book for a decent price... of course, if you want a pristine first edition, you'll most likely be paying much more.

Here are some links where you can find it on Amazon.com (I list what the original Amazon entry says that makes them different... please read the individual seller's write up for more detail):

Walt Disney's Surprise Package (listing says 1944, 1st edition)

Walt Disney's Surprise Package (listing says 1944, edition unknown)

Walt Disney's Surprise Package (listing says 1945, edition unknown)

Walt Disney's Surprise Package (listing says 1945, 3rd edition)

Walt Disney's Surprise Package (listing says 1946, 4th edition)

Walt Disney's Surprise Package (listing says 1948, edition unknown... it also says 76 pages which is much less then the edition I reviewed, a story or two may be missing... ALSO, one of the used copies under this link is listed as a 1944 first edition with a dust jacket)

Walt Disney's Surprise Package (listing says 1948, edition unknown)

Thank you for your time. Goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let the Zipperump-a-zoos bite!

Cheshire Cat in Walt Disney's Surprise Package

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You... This One, in Fact!

2011-06-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

A little over one year, and several books ago, I blogged on here last. I shall return quite soon!

. . .

What? You want to know what is coming up? Well, I have A LOT of books that deserve more recognition. A LOT! Mercer Mayer? OF COURSE! Other authors? YES!

In the meantime, check out Mercer Mayer's latest (non-Little Critter) book called, Too Many Dinosaurs. It is scheduled to come out September 12, 2011! It looks like it is going to be a great book.

The books is going to be about a boy who wants a puppy, but ends up with a triceratops and one heck of a dinosaur dilema! I have seen a sketch of one of the pages, and it looks to be a lot of fun. Look at the cover below and try to tell me that those dinosaurs don't look too cool for words! It isn't a new Little Monster or Professor Wormbog book, but dinosaurs come close.

Speaking of Professor Wormbog... DING DING DING, Mercer Mayer's Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo is available again in hardcover from Fastpencil Premier for a VERY reasonable price (it is a part of their new Mercer Mayer Classic Collectibles/Little Monster Classic Collectibles line)! YAY! REJOICE! It is listed as being a little over 9 x 8 inches in size. So it won't be as huge as the awesome and amazing original release. It is also available in various eBook formats including Kindle and iBooks! BUT because of the size difference, I recommend getting the 1976 original Golden Books/Goldencraft oversized release still.

See you soon!

An Interview with Kealan Patrick Burke, an awesome author!

2010-04-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

As many people out there know, Kealan Patrick Burke wrote the wonderful Bram Stoker Award winning Turtle Boy series, which so far includes: The Turtle Boy, The Hides, Vessels, and The Turtle Boy: Peregrine's Tale (which has its first three books coming soon in digital format from Lovecraft Press, and the fourth coming soon in hardcover from Cemetery Dance Publications). Mr. Burke also has written numerous short stories too (many of which were collected in Ravenous Ghosts and The Number 121 to Pennsylvania and Others). His other books and stories include Master of the Moors, Currency of Souls, You In, Looking Glass (a collaborative round robin style story with many other top names in the horror genre), Seldom Seen in August, The Quiet, Midlisters, and more.

BOOK 'EM BOB: Hello Mr. Burke, thank you for agreeing to letting us here at Book 'em Bob subject you with our questionable questions. As a fan of your writing, I am very excited to be able to ask you some of the things that I have been wanting to know about for awhile (and I hope other people want to know these things too). Let’s start off with an easy one: What will we see in the future from the Timmy Quinn/The Turtle Boy series?

KEALAN: I think all that's left for Timmy Quinn is the final novel Nemesis, which should wrap everything up. This one has taken the longest to write mostly because of developments in my personal life. Since the release of my last book, The Number 121 to Pennsylvania & Others, things hit a kind of downward slope for me, which caused me to relocate and stop writing. There were also several health issues, which thankfully have passed. But I'm back in the game now, and among the projects that need to be completed, and sooner rather than later, is the last chapter in Timmy's story. I think I've matured quite a bit since we first met him, and consequently, so will he by the time his story is done.

BMB: I'm glad to hear that Timmy's story will get all wrapped up... eventually. I know some of what of you’ve been going through in your personal life, and it isn't my place to know or try to find out more. So, I won't push that subject. What is your favorite pastime and why?

KEALAN: Photography. I like getting out armed with my camera and just snapping things that interest me, be they nature or people, or anything in between.

BMB: Wow. I would've never guessed. Any other hobbies?

KEALAN: Outside of that, I'm fairly addicted to survival horror games on the PS3 or XBOX 360. I'm also a fan of good TV, like Deadwood and Lost, etc. I enjoy hanging out with friends too, to counter somewhat the effects of the aforementioned solitary pursuits.

BMB: Friends are always nice to have around, especially after shooting zombies for hours in a dark room by yourself. Ha ha. Will we be seeing any future anthology or magazine appearances from you soon?

KEALAN: There are a few things due. "Cobwebs," which originally appeared in Pete Crowther's wonderful Postscripts magazine (#11, Summer 2007), will be reprinted in the next Shivers anthology.

BMB: So there WILL be a Shivers VI, I knew it! Cemetery Dance hasn’t announced it yet. Anything else on the horizon?

KEALAN: I have a short teleplay ("Snowmen") in Rich Chizmar's Smoke & Mirrors collection (also from Cemetery Dance), and a reprint of "The Man Who Breaks the Bad News" in James Roy Daley's Best New Zombie Tales: Volume 1.

BMB: I've seen the Tom Melnick cover art for Best New Zombie Tales, and it is pretty sweet looking (it looks like a fun anthology too). What else?

KEALAN: A segment in CD's round robin book The Crane House: A Halloween Story, and on the nonfiction front, I wrote the feature review for the Bentley Little special issue of Cemetery Dance magazine (issue #64, coming soon). My output has decreased considerably over the past few years, but that will change soon.

BMB: I am glad to hear that will be changing because I know that I’m looking forward to reading more writing from you. Please tell us how the anthology that you edited called Quietly Now came about.

KEALAN: It came about after a conversation I had with Tom Monteleone at Horrorfind one year. We were discussing Charlie Grant and I expressed my desire to do an anthology of stories and essays as a tribute to him, and using his signature style. Tom was thrilled by the idea, and it was a fortuitous time to mention it. Tom and his wife Elizabeth were in the process of resurrecting Borderlands Press. Tom basically said once it was up and running, they'd be glad to publish the book. And they did.

BMB: Awesome. That anthology is pretty hard to come by, but I know it is out there, and I know I want to read it. Here's a random question: If you could be any animal, besides human, what would you like to be and why?

KEALAN: A bird, big enough not to be prey. I'd fly the f**k away from all the drama whenever the mood took me.

BMB: Sadly beautiful. At least you're not pecking anyone's eyeballs out like Jeff Strand. I saw that you have a role in Greg Lamberson's Slime City II: Slime City Massacre. Please tell us what the filming was like? Did you enjoy the experience, and will we see more of Kealan Patrick Burke on the silver screen?

KEALAN: It was a blast, and it was also very educational. It was also a lot of hard work, and dirty work at that. Filming for weeks in the ruins of a train station gets under your skin (literally) and being covered in SFX goop a lot of the time didn't help much, but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. I met a lot of really talented people on that shoot, some of whom have remained good friends. Long days, long nights, an awe-inspiring location, and a wonderful bunch of people, is the best way to sum it all up for me.
As for more movie work, I won't say no, nor do I have any illusions of movie stardom. I did the movie for the experience, and I don't think beyond that. (NOTE: you can read more about KPB's Slime City Massacre expeience at his blog, here: http://kealanpatrick.wordpress.com/)

BMB: Uh oh, time for the word association speed round! I'll mention the word, you respond with the first thing that pops into your head. Ready, set...go!... "Robin"

KEALAN: Batman

BMB: "Dinosaur"

KEALAN: Raptor

BMB: "Utensil"

KEALAN: Spoon

BMB: "Trollusk"

KEALAN: The f*ck?

BMB: (note to self: Very similar to what Jeff Strand said about Zipperump-a-zoos in our interview with him... maybe 70s Mercer Mayer monster references just don't work with modern genre authors, but the confusion is fun, *evil grin*) "Green"

KEALAN: Slime

BMB: (I saw that one coming) "Splat"

KEALAN: Mosquito

BMB: "Tortoise"

KEALAN: Slow

BMB: "Chocolate"

KEALAN: Snickers

BMB: "Burke"

KEALAN: A**hole

BMB: "Time"

KEALAN: Out

*BING*

BMB: (scribbles down notes on the psyche evaluation sheet with a check mark by "saner than Jeff Strand") I have heard mumblings on the Internet about a book of yours called KIN can you please tell us more about it?

KEALAN: Once upon a time, I contributed to a discussion about torture porn, and, more specifically, the kids-running-afoul-of-inbred-cannibals subgenre. I bemoaned the lack of story, and of character depth in both the heroes and villains, and was told to put up or shut up. So I wrote KIN. It's my longest novel to date. And that's all I'll say for now.

BMB: Ooh, nice. I can’t wait to read it and see who is releasing it… By the way, who is releasing it?

KEALAN: *says nothing*

BMB: Well, since you aren’t giving up the release information, I'm not going to push it... Nope. Not me... Come on, Mr. Burke, tell us... Please. Please. Please. Pretty please? Pllllleeeeeeease...with snickers and gummy bears on top?

KEALAN: *mouth firmly closed*

BMB: Crub. Well, thank you very much Mr. Burke for letting us take up your time like this. I feel very honored (even if you’d don’t know what a Trollusk is). In my opinion, everyone needs to at least read The Turtle Boy by Kealan Patrick Burke. It is a modern masterpiece. Thankfully, it will become more readily available very soon via Lovecraft Press. Also, in the meantime, if you’d like to get creeped-out, go watch “Peekers” a short film directed by Mark Steensland here http://www.playwithme.tv/. It is based on Kealan Patrick Burke’s short story of the same name, and it is scripted by Rick Hautala. You will never hear the words “Play with me” the same again.

Along with all the above links, you can also see the following for more Kealan Patrick Burke goodness:
Taverns of the Dead edited by Kealan Patrick Burke
Shivers V (featuring "The Acquaintance") edited by Richard Chizmar
Shroud magazine #2 (featuring KPB's "Haven")
Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet (featuring "A Letter From Phoenix")
Concrete Gods (with Harry Shannon)
Night Visions 12 edited by KPB
Brimstone Turnpike edited by KPB
Tales from the Gorezone edited by KPB

An Interview with Neil W. Rabens: Author, Illustrator, Game Inventor, Musician, Parent, and More

2010-03-19T23:21:00.000-07:00

Many of you read my previous blog here, and know that I am a fan of Neil W. Rabens' book The Secret of Henry and Sam. Since that time I have emailed with Mr. Rabens on a number of occasions and discovered bits and pieces of his life that are fascinating. So, I decided to interview him next for Book 'em Bob.

BookemBob: Hello Mr. Rabens and welcome to Book 'em Bob. I am your host Robert Brouhard and it is a great pleasure to have you here today. As you know, I had the delight of growing up with a book you wrote and illustrated called The Secret of Henry and Sam. Little did I know, I also grew up with a game you co-invented called Twister (“the game that ties you up in knots”). First, I just want to say thank you for these two wonderful childhood experiences. There isn’t much out there as far as biographical information goes… So, to introduce people to you, please tell us a little about your life. Where and when were you born and where did you grow up?

NeilWRabens: I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1929. I was the youngest of five, and I grew up during the depression years. My dad, Fred T. Rabens, kept his job but had his wages cut. He was a blacksmith for a milk company when they still had horses. He had natural mechanical abilities and became a mechanic when trucks replaced the horses. Incidentally, Dad had a patent in his name #2343578 (look it up)! It was a vending machine that would drop your item down when you put in a coin. Up until then you had to lift a lid and slide your beverage out. He was not a particularly good business man in spite of his creative mind. After the patent ran out, these machines were all over the place and he never benefited from it. He worked ten hour days sometime and would come home and work on his machine. When Dad passed away they told us that there were tools hanging in the shop that no one knew what they were for. When he came across a problem he used his blacksmith savvy to make a tool to fix this or that. I might add that he served in WW1 as a blacksmith when they still had the cavalry. All in all, I had a pretty happy childhood with a lot of friends and pets: dogs (one from the time I was one year until I buried him when I was about seventeen), cats, a black ram and even an alligator.

BMB: An alligator?

NEIL: Some guy sent it to his wife as a joke and she gave it to us. It didn't live too long or I might still have it. I had a baby woodchuck that I would carry around in my shirt. This of course made me very cool with my buddies. I had him all one summer but he ran away in the fall to hibernate. My mother had a high tolerance for animals. Her dad was a vet, or, as they called them then, a horse doctor.

BMB: Wow, Neil. Your dad sounds like he was a very interesting man, and I can see how some of those pets would make you popular with the curious kids. How did you start inventing games and who did you work with?

NEIL: In 1965 I got a job with Reynolds Guyer Agency of Design in St. Paul. They were going into games as a sideline and hired one Chuck Foley to head up that division. They hired me to work with him mainly as an artist. At the time they called me, I was working in New Richmond, Wisconsin as a cartoonist /designer doing art for children’s swimming pools and inflatable toys. Guyer had a few mat games that they intended to produce themselves but Foley suggested they contact established game companies on a royalty basis. I came up with the hand and foot concept and called it “Pretzel” which was later changed to “Twister.” Foley added some changes and it became what it is. He was the one who sold it to Milton Bradley for Guyer.

BMB: So, besides Twister, what are the names of some of the games you helped create, and are any still around today?

NEIL: Some of them can still be found on the Internet. Animal Twister, Grab a Loop, Bing-Bang-Boing (BMB NOTE: “The Bounce-a-Dilly Watchamagame with the Bingaroony Sound”... “The first open end action game ever created”... you gotta see this commercial), and Pie Puzzles. Others were: Battle Ball, No Go, One more Time, Stats (the safe dart board), Traffic Jam, and a few others. Plus a few toys (these were all done after we left Guyer). Foley made the first plastic handcuffs (they were light metal things up to that point). I can't remember who bought them but I think it was Cadaco.

BMB: I can’t honestly say that I have heard of any of them. Do you have any kind of ownership of Twister? Why or why not?

NEIL: No. The day Chuck and I applied for the patent we signed over the rights to Guyer. Foley had a verbal agreement with Reyn Guyer Jr. for a certain percentage, but when the money started to come in, it was not honored. Foley then resigned, got a backer, and I went with him. We started our own company which we called Research and Development (R & D). We worked together until the early 70's. The energy crisis of that time affected the toy industry somewhat, plus Foley's wife became ill with cancer. She passed away and he had nine children. We suddenly folded up and I was unemployed.

BMB: Oh, no. What did you do then?

NEIL: I went into sales, which was a huge mistake. I was completely out of my element, and there were a few rough years. Twister sold over 70 million games up to 2004 and I don't know how many since. If I could have had one half of one percent of the retail price it would have been nice. But nobody said life was fair. Foley became quite bitter and retained a lawyer and did get a little something. I got nothing, but I have a wonderful wife of fifty years and all my children are successful and life has been good. That's worth something.

BMB: Family can certainly make a person rich with its own rewards. How did book writing and illustrating enter the picture?

NEIL: The wife and I had a story hour in our church in a fairly rough part of Minneapolis. The children were not acquainted with the usual Bible stories, so I started making up contemporary stories that they could relate to. I would draw on a large pad while my wife told the story. I believe the first one was The Secret of Henry and Sam. Years later they ended up at Standard Publishing as books and were published. Two of the story hour kids, a brother and sister (9 and 11) ended up living with us as foster kids. They were the first of thirty-seven foster kids over the years.

BMB: Thirty-seven!

NEIL: Yes. We also had three of our own and adopted one of the foster children, a beautiful red headed baby girl. She was a year old when we got her and parental rights were taken from her parents when she was three… So we kept her. She is now in her early thirties. I should write a book about some of our experiences. The longest we had one child was three years and the shortest was three hours.

BMB: Sounds like it would be a great book. Entertaining and probably heart wrenching too. Besides the children’s swim pools and inflatable toys, did you do any illustration work prior to the books you wrote in the late 1970s?

NEIL: I had designed some paint by number sets for a small company while still in art school shortly after I got out of the service This would be in the middle fifties.

BMB: Have you written any books that never got published?

NEIL: Yes, I have a few stories but they’re not illustrated yet. I enjoy the writing almost as much as the illustration, but I'm a terrible procrastinator.

BMB: Yeah, I know what that is like. If a publisher asked you to write and illustrate a new children's book today, would you do it? Why or why not?

NEIL: Sure. As a matter of fact all the book rights have been given back to me by contract and could be published again. With the exception of The Secret of Henry and Sam, which I resold to Bogard Press at a flat rate. I needed the money at the time. I would have to re-illustrate them, I think. I've been out of the loop for a long time and really wouldn't
know how to go about getting re-published. The industry is a different kind of animal than it was in my day.

BMB: I really wouldn’t know how to go about it either, but I’d love to your work back on the shelves. Who are some of your favorite children's book authors and illustrators and why?

NEIL: Maurice Sendak, Mercer Mayer, Garth Williams, the late Dr. Seuss, and the late Bill Peet. I like the different styles and that each one is easily recognizable. I also really loved the work of cartoonist Walt Kelly the creator of Pogo Possum. He was in a class all by himself… Sort of the Mercer Mayer of the comic strip world

BMB: A man after my own heart. You just listed out some of my biggest favorites! What are you currently doing to fill your time?

NEIL: I work part time at a local county history center. Both my wife and I are volunteer grandparents at the elementary school. I assist the art teacher with kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades an hour a day. I play a six string banjo (a banjitar) mostly for my own amusement but occasionally publicly. Most kids nowadays idea of “cool” music is definitely not an 80 year old guy with a banjo.

BMB: I don’t know... I think they’d secretly like it and think it was pretty cool. What kind of music do you play with it?

NEIL: I like folk songs, old ballads and hymns. Incidentally, I had a song published some years ago. An old guy from Australia had a children's ministry and had one of my books and wanted to put it to music. It was called "Jesus Loves You" and was about children from other lands. He called Standard Publishing and they told him the rights belonged to me. He called me and I said go ahead. He was operating on a shoe string so I let him have it. He sent me a tape and I misplaced it somehow. He was originally from Scotland but also picked up the Australian accent. His singing was something to hear and he played some kind of odd instrument along with it that I couldn't identify. I also gave him a song I had made up for our story hour kids and he published that too.

BMB: Neil Rabens, songwriter, toy inventor, game designer, book writer, illustrator, parent, and more. You are a man of many talents. When we were emailing you mentioned a group called Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and they sounded pretty interesting. Please tell us about the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

NEIL: I was a member last year but dropped my membership. My purpose for joining was to network with local artists and writers but most of the meetings are not geographically feasible. I'm in good health but my night driving vision is bad. I think I will sign up again though because I enjoyed being part of it.

BMB: Okay. Did you pattern yourself after any other artists or illustrators?

NEIL: Not really.

BMB: That was to the point. Ha ha. I’ve got a possible doozy for you: If you could tell or teach the children of the world anything at all, what would that be and why?

NEIL: Just the old cliché, "follow the dream" and avoid procrastination.

BMB: Well, I wouldn’t call avoiding procrastination “cliché.” That is pretty darn good advice. Feel free to tell us anything else you’d like the world to hear about you, your philosophy, life, or anything else

NEIL: I am serious about being a Christian, but didn't become one until I was an adult. I grew up in a more or less agnostic atmosphere. I was a medic in the Korean War which had something to do with my change of thinking to some degree. I worked in an evacuation hospital (something like a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, MASH, outfit) I developed somewhat of a drinking problem (now, no longer a problem for many years… I just don't touch it). For some reason, I felt guilty for coming home before the war was over. When I got out, I went to art school for a short while, got married, and booze on both our parts ended that in a few short years. Then I got a job at the county hospital where I worked as an orderly and also made ambulance runs. I met my present wife there and this is the best thing that ever happened to me (fifty years and it looks like it might last)!

BMB: Anything else you’d like to share with our readers and Internet-land?

NEIL: I'll have to add a few words about my kids of whom I'm quite proud. My oldest son recently finished 25 years in the navy and now works out of Washington for the state department. He's over in Oman with his family. He makes frequent trips to Yemen where he is responsible for the security system. He has to keep all the electronic gear in order, cameras, gates, etc... at the embassy there. Oman is fairly safe, but in Yemen, he has to go to work in an armored car. My daughter works in a hospital as a cardiac registrar and her husband is the system analyst there also. My youngest boy does virtual reality training films at a nearby technical community college. My youngest girl, that we adopted, lives in an adult foster home near us. She has some learning disabilities but she's a real sweetheart.

BMB: Thank you very much for your time Mr. Rabens. I am very glad that I got to know more about you. You are a great person, a talented man, and I am sure you are a great father too. God bless you sir, and thank you again for letting me interview you for my blog.

Neil W. Rabens is the author and illustrator of many children’s books including: The Secret of Henry and Sam, Jesus Loves You, No One but God, One Happy Little Songbird, Bunker Bear, God Made All the Animals, and Scooter Bug and the Bookworm. He is also the co-inventor of many board games including Twister. His games and books often show up on eBay and also at Amazon.com. Please find them and check them out.

Totally Un-"Dweller" Related Questions Asked of Horror Author Extraordinaire, Mr. Jeff Strand

2010-03-12T15:07:00.000-08:00

To quote Monty Python, "And now, for something completely different..." Presenting an interview with an author... An author who... um... doesn't write children's books (young adult books, maybe). Hey, the blog is called Book 'Em Bob, and this guy writes books. I had the opportunity to interview him, I like his books, and I thought it would be fun. So, I did it. I DO ask him what his favorite children's book is (and his answer is a classic book that many of us love). His name is Jeff Strand, and he is best known for his Humorous Horror novels and short stories, but he has dabbled in other arenas of writing too. He tends to keep his tongue firmly in his cheek and other places... so I played with that a bit. So without further explanation:

Welcome to "Totally Un-Dweller Related Questions Asked of Horror Author Extraordinaire, Mr. Jeff Strand" on the Book 'Em Bob blog (*insert applause here*). I am your host, Robert Brouhard, and we are now welcoming to this webpage the author of such classics as Mandibles, Dweller, Kutter, Benjamin's Parasite, Pressure, How to Rescue a Dead Princess, Out of Whack, Elrod McBugle on the Loose, The Severed Nose, The Sinister Mr. Corpse, Graverobbers Wanted (No Experience Necessary), Single White Psychopath Seeks Same, Casket for Sale (Only Used Once), Suckers (with J. A. Konrath), The Haunted Forest Tour (with James A. Moore), and more: Mr. Jeff Strand (*insert standing ovation, women fainting, dogs howling, etc... here*).

BOOK 'EM BOB (BMB): Thank you Mr. Strand for offering up your precious and valuable time for a quick question and answer session with us today. We have 10 questions chosen at random that probably have nothing to do with most of your writing abilities... but who knows, they may have a deep psychological meaning for some person somewhere and might make them want to read more of what you have to say... or not.
Now, in random order, the questions:
Question 1: If you were a bird, what goals would you have for yourself (daily and lifetime)?

JEFF STRAND: On a daily basis, I'd probably try to find at least one squirrel and peck its eyes out. No particular reason, except that if you have a beak, it seems like kind of a waste not to use it to peck out the eyes of squirrels. My lifetime goal would be to not get overconfident and put myself in a situation where several squirrels could attack me at once, creating an ironic and tragic death.

BMB: (*Note to self: Oh boy... this interview may go downhill quick... um... moving on...*)
Question 2: What was your favorite moment of the last 24 hours and why?

JEFF: I had a really good burger at Five Guys, after at least two weeks of thinking about how much I'd enjoy a Five Guys burger. Mustard, onions, pickles, jalapenos, and Cajun-seasoned fries. Oooooooh yeah.

BMB: Nice. Excuse me a second while I wipe the drool of my lapel…
Question 3: If your nose ran away, how would you smell and why?

JEFF: I guess I would, uh, smell through the hole in my face where my nose used to be. Is that how it works? Are the smelling parts actually in your nose, or deeper inside? I guess I should know that, having written a book called The Severed Nose. Let me do some research...
(*four hours later*) Ah, okay. If my nose ran away, it would be more difficult to breathe but I could still smell. So I'd smell fine!

BMB: And you do smell quite nice today I might add... just the right combo of mustard, onions, and pickles...
Question 4: What is your favorite color and why?

JEFF: I guess orange; even though I don't own much in the way of orange clothing or have any orange-color motifs anywhere in my life or really ever think about it except in the very rare occasions when somebody asks me my favorite color. Maybe I just like pumpkins.

BMB: Hmm, illuminating...
Question 5: What is your mostest favoritest website on the whole interwebz and why?

JEFF: Wow. Tough one. I make daily visits to The Horror Mall, Dread Central, Rotten Tomatoes, LiveJournal, Twitter, and a few others, but despite the vast amount of lameness present on the site, I think it would cause me the most pain to lose Facebook. I ignore all of the games and the gifts and the other annoying crap, but I love it as a way to keep in touch with fans & friends.

BMB: Ah yes, Facebook, the addicting website of millions… (note to self: stop sending Farmville "neighbor requests" to Mr. Strand).
Question 6: What kind of name is "Strand" (*sheesh*)?

JEFF: It's an AWESOME name that strikes fear into the hearts of millions, and strikes love into the hearts of millions more. Learn that name well. Respect it.

BMB: Okie dokie…
Question 7: What is the funniest thing you have ever read or seen and why?

JEFF: The single funniest thing is the scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off where Ed Rooney (the principal) is on the phone thinking he's talking to Ferris posing as his girlfriend's father, and Ed is being really obnoxious about the whole "dead grandmother" thing, and his secretary (Edie McClurg) comes in and says, "Ferris Bueller is on line two!" and there's a huge musical sting and the camera zooms in on Ed Rooney's face as he realizes the enormity of his mistake.

BMB: Ferris Bueller's Day Off is definitely a favorite in our household too (well, just for the adults so far, but when the kids grow up... they will love it too)...
Question 8: Because the entire world demands to know: Which is it: Boxers, Briefs, Boxer-Briefs, Depends, Commando, Underoos, etc (I don't know if I want to ask why)?

JEFF: Boxers. If you'd asked why, I probably would've offered up some wacky joke about them, but since you didn't I will merely say "boxers."

BMB: We can live with that.
Question 9: Growing up, what was your favorite children's picture book, and why?

JEFF: The Monster at the End of This Book by Sesame Street's Grover, a masterpiece of hilarious comedy mixed with unbearable dread (*Book 'Em Bob's note: It is by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin*).

BMB: Ah, yes, a classic book that teaches children to not listen to elders or at least monsters like Lovable Furry Old Grover! Just kidding. I loved it as a child, and my son loves it too. I close the book after reading the first page because Grover told us to. That sends my son over the edge... and then I mess with him every page after that ("Grover glued the pages together... Now I can't turn the page." "DADDY!"). It never gets old to him. They even did a cash-in sequel Another Monster at the End of This Book which features that other red monster, Elmo (and Grover). There is also an interactive DVD version of the original book.
Okay, Random Word Association Bonus Speed Round:

*tick tick tick* GO:

BMB: "Inhabit?"...
JEFF: Monkey cage
BMB: "Cellar?"...
JEFF: Laymon
BMB: "Strand?"...
JEFF: Author of the upcoming novel Dweller
BMB: "Funky"...
JEFF: Cold Medina
BMB: "Zipperump-a-Zoo?"...
JEFF: WTF?
BMB: *cocks eyebrow* hmm, "Sputnik?"...
JEFF: Those d*mn commies!
BMB: "Godspeed?"...
JEFF: Fast
BMB: "Irreconcilable?"...
JEFF: Drew Barrymore
BMB: "Boo?"...
JEFF: 5th place finish on Survivor: Cook Islands
BMB: "Gremlin?"...
JEFF: Microwave

*DING*

BMB: And time… Interesting, Mr. Strand… (*scribbles 25 pages of notes and recommendations for further psychological evaluation*). One last question before we bid adieu…
Question 10: As of March, 2010, what are we going to see next from you?

JEFF: This book called Dweller. It follows a guy named Toby and his best friend Owen for their entire lives, from youth to old age. But Owen is a MONSTER! One who lives in the woods! With claws and teeth! How can this be healthy? What happens if Owen starts, like, killing people? Won't that negatively impact their relationship? Find out the answer to these questions and five or six more in...Dweller!

BMB: Fascinating! Thank you, Mr. Strand. It has been an utmost pleasure having you here with us today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, and goodbye.

PS: Incidentally, the cheap trade paperback edition of Dweller from Leisure Books, Jeff Strand's second "serious" novel, is available March 30, 2010 (on Amazon or possibly even at your local book retailer if they’re still open). Go get it, or get the nice and crunchy expensive Limited Edition or Lettered Edition hardcover from Dark Regions Press (http://www.darkregions.com).

PPS: Remember, Jeff Strand’s books are not for kids. Do not read Dweller to them. It may mess them up for life... as with any Jeff Strand book. You have been warned.

PPPS: If you are an author and would enjoy being uniquely interviewed by Book 'Em Bob, feel free to contact me or leave a comment on this page.

PPPPS: Mr. Strand, you are forgiven for not knowing what a "Zipperump-a-Zoo" is... and for saying "WTF" (which means "Well That's Funny" kids) on my family friendly blog. Ha ha.

And with that, "Good night, sleep tight, and don't let the Zipperump-a-Zoos bite."

The e-Book Debate: Should Childrens' Books Enter Into It?

2010-02-25T10:32:00.000-08:00

I love my "real" books (hardcovers especially), and I don't have an e-reader, but if an e-book is the only way to read my favorites, then I HAVE to download it and read it on my computer. I can get a lot of books in PDF, and Amazon even has a "Kindle for PC" application that you can use to read books on your computer. BUT, this is just for MY reading, not my kids.

Nostalgia may be one of the big reasons I love paper/real/bound books... but children’s books for my kids have to be paper until we get the larger 12" to 24" brightly colored screen for the pictures... and even then, I am not going to let them play with it. They make board books that way for a reason. Ha ha. No one wants their computer drooled on and thrown.

I think letting my kids have access to the bookshelf at an early age has helped them have a huge joy and love of reading. My 4-year-old constantly takes out a stack and "reads" through the books 1-by-1 all by himself... mostly picture gazing. Sometimes this leads to that stack being dropped at my feet with a plea of, "Please, read these to me Daddy!" Sure, there have been torn pages on rare books, but that is a small sacrifice (and a lot of those have now moved to a new home in Daddy's "don't-you-dare-touch-it" library, ha ha).

I also love that after I've read the bed time story; my 4-year-old will take the book from me and "read" it to me. Sometimes silently, and sometimes with many memorized sections (even after only one reading).

PDF files on a computer screen can show a children's picture book, but it isn't portable…. unless it is a laptop. Plus those 2 page spreads, and not to mention the fold-out pages, won't work very well (or look really tiny).

So, what are the benefits for a children’s e-book:
1) No more ripped pages.
2) Possibility for Interactive qualities (we've seen those CD-Rom books).
3) Portable for trips, sort of…depending on size.
4) Shelf space.
5) No more shelf-searching when your child asks for that one book that hasn't been read for 2 years.
6) Saved tress.
7) No lead based inks (ha ha).
8) Many out of print or rare books may become accessible again.
9) Possibly cheaper than new, $15.99 children's hardcover books.

But what about those negatives for a children’s e-book:
1) Drooled on e-device.
2) Tiny black and white screens (or tiny color screens). Yuck.
3) Bigger books just won't have that "cool" factor or "wow" impact.
4) Parents don't know for sure how long the book is until they've been reading out loud for over 20 minutes past bedtime (I hate when this happens, ha ha).
5) Broken e-device because the kids got a hold of it trying to read the latest Little Critter book without your permission and spilled their milk on it.
6) Insert anything else you can think of here.
7) Do you really want anyone under the age of 7 (or 15, or 18) using your $300.00 - $2,000.00+ (USD) e-device?
8) The pictures will make the book files a lot larger, so you won't be able to have "thousands" in your e-reader unless it has a big hard drive (or large amount of file storage space).
9) Accidental purchases of the complete collection of something-you-never-wanted because you let a child touch it for approximately 10 seconds (or the deletion of everything on your device).

So, do you think that e-children’s- books are in our future? I think it is possible.. but I don't know if I want them to happen. My main reason for not owning a Kindle is the price of the Kindle… My second reason is $10.00 a non-physical-book that holds no re-sale value is a bit of a hard thing to swallow. If I don't like a physical book, I can re-sell it or donate it somewhere. If I don't like an e-book, I can delete my $10.00 e-book, and that is it. It isn't like the company is going to give me a refund. The few e-books that I do have, I spent less than $5.00 each for (most under $2.00, and many were freebies).

In the meantime, I will continue to support my local thrift shops. I can't go wrong for $0.10, $0.69, $1.00, $2.00, or slightly more for kids' books, and I doubt an e-reader will ever have them for that cheap.

Learned something new today: Logan's Run with cover art by Mercer Mayer

2010-02-22T11:26:00.000-08:00

You learn something new every day. Today I learned that Mercer Mayer did the dust jacket illustration (and title page art... same picture in black and white) for the first printing of Logan's Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson (Dial Press, 1967). This is probably going to be another book on the "Oh-my-goodness, I'm-never-going-to-be-able-to-afford-that" list of Mercer Mayer related books. $45.00 - $400.00... OUCH.

I've actually wanted to read William F. Nolan's books and I've been seeking out a nice hardcover for this title. Now, I HAVE to find THIS version. Hopefully, I'll be able to find an ex-library one with the whole dust jacket for cheap.

...and, yes, this is not a children's novel. Ha ha.

Just for You: A 35 Year Anniversary, Plus: The Editing of Mercer Mayer part 1

2010-02-10T15:50:00.000-08:00

“Just for You” by Mercer Mayer was first published as a dust jacketed hardcover 35 years ago in 1975 by Golden Press/Western Publishing Company Inc for $3.50 (ISBN 0-307-12542-4, and dedicated to Gordon Bonar). I am going to be 35 this year too. So, in essence, Little Critter was born the same year that I was.

Many of you know the story of “Just for You”, but here is a quick refresher: The story is about a little creature (who has since come to be known as "Little Critter") of around 3 to 7 years old who looks a bit like a porcupine or hedgehog (originally). He is presumed to be a male (later books confirm this), and he has human-like qualities (anthropomorphic). The book is told from his point of view (which kids like). Little Critter tries to help out his mom and be extra good for a day. He does many things, and he says that he is doing them, "Just for you," because he loves his mom and he wants to do things right. He carries groceries, tries to keep the water in the tub, and more, but nothing turns out the way he meant for it to. Accidents and distractions happen… and Little Critter comes up with an excuse for every one of them (not the best thing to teach a child, but the cute-factor over rides this).

If you read this, or most of the other Little Critter books, to an observant child, they will quickly notice that there is a spider and grasshopper in almost every picture, and they won't let you turn the page until they've found them. This little built-in reward system also makes it a great picture book for self-reading (for non-readers and beginning readers too).

Here is something you might not know. The version of Just for You that you can buy in the store today is different then the original version! There are sections of story and at least 4 pages of art that have been cut out of it! Let me tell you the story of how I discovered this:

Collecting Mercer Mayer over the years has involved a lot of Thrift Store searching, Amazon shopping, and Used Book Store shopping, but it mostly involved eBay. But I am getting ahead of myself… It started with a list…

I started making a list and trying to remember the books I read as a child (by myself and with my parents). This list gradually became HUGE, but I noticed certain authors and illustrators appeared a lot on it. Jack Kent, Maurice Sendak, Arnold Lobel, Marc Simont, Stephen Cosgrove, Dick Gackenbach, and many more, but one name really brought memories flooding back: Mercer Mayer. I loved his drawings and I felt like I could stare at their details for hours. He was my starting point in my search to find the books that I had read as a child to share with my kids. He was my gateway drug…

I soon discovered that paying full price on Amazon (plus shipping) or at Borders or even the prices at the used book stores was a bit of burden. Then I noticed eBay had LOTS (bundles of books in one auction) of Mercer Mayer stuff… they also had a lot of Mercer Mayer stuff too. Do a search on eBay for "Mercer Mayer" and in an average week you will get 600+ hits (if you search within the auctions, you may get a 1000+ hits). Well, I ended up buying a lot of these "lots." I ended up with a few doubles, but the overall price was much cheaper. In one case: 55 books for $20.00 plus $10.00 shipping (less than a $1.00 a book, nice!). Yes, I spent more on most of the lots, but that one was a favorite.

Through this process of buying Lots on eBay, I got a few quirky doubles: alternate covers, very different looking versions, etc but I will cover those in the future (yes, I will). My biggest shock was when I finally got a hardcover, first printing of the first Little Critter book, "Just for You." I wasn't trying to get it. I wasn't trying to be a "must-have-first-printing" kind of person. It just so happened to be in an eBay lot that I had purchased.

Inside covers of three different versions of Just for You:

The first printing of "Just for You" (1975) had a BIG "Cool" factor when I noticed exactly what it was, and I, of course, looked through it. It has a dust jacket and must-see full-color Little Critter collage end sheets…BUT imagine my surprise when I saw other things that I had never seen before. Having this book memorized since I was tiny, I gasped. I almost felt… cheated. The first page of the story threw me off, and didn't seem right. A whole 2 page spread seemed brand new to me… and the ending! THE ENDING! It now seemed to have an extra punch to it that almost brought a tear to my eye.

So, I pulled out my ratty paperback of "Just for You" and compared. My observations were correct!

The first page of the book is brand new art. Plot wise, it isn’t as important, but it does give you a lead-in before the chaos ensues. It is a red herring. It gives the new reader a sense of, “Oh, how nice, the little guy is going to make breakfast for his family,” just like a bunch of other stories. But, as we know, this book is based a little more in reality. I like that a lot.

One of the "new" things that I discovered was, "I wanted to build a beautiful house just for you, but I hurt myself." As far as I can figure out, these are two pages of Mercer Mayer art and story that haven't been in any subsequent versions of this book!

The original ending is a one-two punch. You have to turn the page to figure out what Little Critter is going to do, and succeed at it.

It will make you smile and say “Aww” even more than the current version ever could. Something about the extra pause to turn the page just makes it hit home even more. The current version puts it all on one page which gives it a rushed feel. Yes, it is still the same story-wise, but the aesthetic and feel of it is changed. You get a sense of anticipation that is missing from the current version.

My first thought after all this was: WHY? I can only come up with theories:
1) Money? It costs more money to print more pages. Maybe artists/authors are paid on a per-page rate for reprints, and it saved the company a lot of money to do this?
2) Length? Maybe Golden Press' Pictureback's line can only be a certain amount of pages?
3) Editing? Maybe someone (wrongly, in my humble opinion) felt these pages distracted from the story or were useless or repetitive?
4) An article or study? Maybe an "attention span" article or other educational study came out that said if a book was over a certain amount of pages, a kid would dismiss it or be bored by it?
5) Censorship? You can't show Little Critter getting hurt! Kids will cry and it isn't fun! Ha ha.
6) "…things change." See the next paragraph.

I asked Mercer Mayer via email about this change in the book, and he responded, "With regards to the reprint changes, Little Critter asked me to tell you that things change." I was first kind of miffed by this response, but it has grown on me. Maybe Mercer Mayer wrote angry letters and tried to fight the system back in the 70's to not get his book changed… but he has now had 30+ years to get over it. Acceptance is hard, but necessary in the publishing world. “Things change,” is an attitude we could probably all strive to have. Star Wars Special Edition, “things change." Ha ha.

After discovering the differences, I put the information on Wikipedia, and put some pictures on Amazon…. But now I can only wonder what other books have changed over the years. Does the first edition of “The Cat in the Hat” have 12 extra pages in it (ha ha)? Are there other Mercer Mayer books that have been censored/edited (YES)? I wonder if Mercer Mayer was ever forced to cut pages of art and story from some of his other books before they were printed (probably). Yes, I understand that “things change," but I still want to know an artist’s/author’s full original intent. Now, I find myself wanting to get first printings of children’s books because of this. Too bad I don’t have the budget for it.

After "Just for You," Little Critter was a hit and the books have continued to be reprinted now for over 35 years. New books seem to come out at least once a year or more (lately it has been about 2 -4 a year). Now in his mid-60s, Mercer Mayer uses a computer for most of his art, and, from what I understand, he has sometimes used "ghost-illustrators" for some of his Little Critter works (according to illustrator John Nez who claims to have illustrated a few of Mercer Mayer's books). Don't even get me started on the confusing Erica Farber and J. R. Sansevere stuff. Some of his recent non-Little Critter related stuff is amazing and beautiful (like "Shibumi and the Kitemaker"), but I still find myself attracted to the 1970's stuff. I have read every Little Critter book to my children at least once, but to be honest, except for the first couple of Little Critter books, Mercer Mayer's other works are the ones that I re-read often to my kids (unless I am asked for a specific later Critter book).

It is the opinion of this Blogger that "Just for You" needs to be re-released in its original version. This book, to me, is a like a classic work of art… Like the Mona Lisa. What if, 200 years ago, no one messed with her smile, but someone erased her eyebrows. That would be something we wouldn’t notice, unless we saw the original (she never had eyebrows…as far as I know). Maybe a publisher will release an unexpurgated version as some kind of 35th anniversary limited edition or something. In the meantime, I wrote this blog just for you…

PS: If you are looking for this hardcover version, here is a link to it at Amazon.com (make sure the seller describes it as such too):
JUST FOR YOU by Mercer Mayer 1st Edition hardcover

PPS: While waiting for my once-in-a-while (daily? weekly? monthly? yearly?) article/novella-length blogs, go get your nearly daily kids-book-loving reading at “Vintage Children’s Books My Kid Loves” at http://www.vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com. She is a blogger that I read regularly with great pictures and to-the-point information.

Something is coming!

2010-02-08T11:24:00.000-08:00

Something is coming!
Something is coming!
What?
What can it be?
... a post? Maybe.
... a blog? Maybe.
... an article? Maybe.
... a short story? Maybe, in a roundabout way.
... a rambling mess that will make your head spin? Probably.
... all the above? Likely.
Who knows ! ?
BUT, "something" is coming!
So, now the only question is:
When?
Soon, dear readers. Very soon, I will have something just for you, but I need to take some pictures first.
OH!
WAIT!
Hold on!
Did I see a hint?
Was that a hint?
I think there might have been a hint in there!
... Maybe.
Coming soon... something.

The Secret of Henry and Sam by Neil W. Rabens

2009-09-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

I grew up with a lot of books thanks to my mother and father. One of those books was The Secret of Henry and Sam from 1978 written and illustrated by Neil W. Rabens. The book was a lot like the "Goofus and Gallant" comic strip that was in Highlights For Children Magazine except it was Christian. Henry was like Gallant in that he always did the right thing. Sam was like Goofus in that he always did the wrong thing or messed up in some way.

The main thing I remember about the book is the drawings/illustrations. They were crisp and clear with enough over-exaggeratedness to really capture my imagination. Every turn of the page you were presented with one character on each opposing page, Henry on one side and Sam on the other. The book was physically overly long, but a fairly normal height and paperback. I also remember the juxtaposed characters' actions. Henry was nice to everyone, and Sam picked on kids younger than him. Henry fed his pets, and Sam ignored or forgot them. I remember being horrified at the way Sam acted.

Of course, the big twist happens near the end. The Secret of Henry and Sam is… BIG SPOILER, sort of... that they are the same person! *Gasp* The horror! How could a kid be both! Ha ha ha. But it is true, we all have multiple sides to us. The book goes beyond this though and the boy talks about how he is working on getting rid of his Sam side with God's help.

Loving the illustrations in this book so much as a child, I am actively seeking out other Neil W. Rabens books to share with my children. During this process I ran across some information about a person named Neil W. Rabens co-inventing TWISTER… yes Twister, the Game that Ties You Up in Knots (tm). Is this the same person? YES! It is! I also ran across a Neil W. Rabens of Burnsville, MN who co-invented a game/puzzle style called Pan Puzzles which has something to do with circular puzzles that don't interlock (like a puzzle in a pan!). I'll guess that he is the same Neil W. Rabens too. In case you are wondering, he is still alive, and 80 years old! He seems like he is a pretty cool guy too (I've emailed with him a couple of times since writing this blog). Sadly, I don't think that he has written anything since the early 80s though.

Through these emails I discovered that Mr. Rabens did the text and drawings but Standard Publishing did the coloring for all of the books except for One Happy Little Songbird, which was his last book. The rights to all of his books have reverted back to him by contract. He did re-sell The Secret of Henry and Sam to Bogard Press!

So, for the last few years I have been trying to figure out and find what else Mr. Rabens wrote and illustrated.
Well, here are the results of my YEARS of agonizing research… not much to show for it (I believe that all of these are from The Standard Publishing Company of Cincinnati, Ohio):

The Secret of Henry and Sam, 1978 ISBN 0872391795

God Made All the Animals, 1978 ISBN 0872391817 (I haven't seen this anywhere, but I read about it in the 1980 book "Paperbound Books for Young People: Preschool Through Grade 12 By R.R. Bowker Company"). One awesome reader sent me a JPG of the cover of this book! Woo Hoo! Here it is for all to see:

Jesus Loves You, 1978 ISBN 0872391809 (I haven't seen this anywhere, but I read about it in the 1980 book "Paperbound Books for Young People: Preschool Through Grade 12 By R.R. Bowker Company")

No One but God, 1978 ISBN 0872391787

One Happy Little Songbird, (A Happy Day Book) 1979 ISBN 0872393615

Bunker Bear, 1978 ISBN 0872391825

Scooter Bug and the Bookworm, 1978 ISBN 0872391833

Witnessing for Christ: Illustrated Guide for Witnessing
(illustrations only)

And some Spanish speaking seminar books for University of Montemorelos (Universidad de Montemorelos))in Mexico. I don't know the names or when they came out.

What do I have to show for this research? Nothing, nada, zip. I haven't been able to find a single one of these books via my normal thrift store means! One Happy Little Songbird is available for a pretty cheap price on Amazon though. I have Scooter Bug and the Bookworm on order from a swapping site, and I hope it will be here soon! IF YOU KNOW OF ANY BOOKS THAT I HAVE MISSED by Neil W. Rabens, PLEASE TELL ME!

By the way, a recent phone call to my mom has revealed that she STILL HAS The Secret of Henry and Sam at her house! BUT, she doesn't want to hand it over to me just yet. She wants to read it to all her grandchildren when they come over for awhile. Oh well, I will hopefully get this one eventually. In the meantime my kids will get to hear it every time they go to Grandma's house.

Other Ways to Find Used Books Cheap! Or: An Alternative to Shopping Online & Used Book Stores: Thrift shops!

2009-07-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

Most of us know about Used Book Stores. They are usually those wonderful, musty smelling, dungeons of wonderfullness where you can find lost treasures at about half the cover price (depending on your local shop's pricing policies) or for $100 more then you want to ever spend on a book. These are great places to find books of all types. New (old) product comes in all the time from people who are desperate to make space in their lives or who need the extra quick cash. My town also has a Book Exchange store where you bring books in and get a discount on the used books on the shelves (or bring nothing in, and pay regular used book store prices). BUT, to be honest, I don't frequent any of these guys very much anymore. There are other places that get new (old) books all the time...

I have discovered Thrift and Charity Stores. These places have all sorts of books in all sorts of conditions, ha ha. Hint: ALWAYS look through a book to make sure it is complete and not colored in throughout. Smell your books too… no one wants smokey kids books (unless we are talking about a certain bear who wants YOU to prevent forest fires). Plus, if you make a donation of some kind you can sometimes get a percent off coupon at a lot of these places (not Goodwill though).

Goodwill marks most of their books from $0.49 to $4.99 (most children's books stay under $1.99 unless it is an over sized beauty). Every Goodwill has a different person making their prices. So, they very slightly. I have three Goodwill stores in my town (plus a Goodwill outlet, but after one stop there, I never want to go back… besides, they sell by the pound, and that isn't a good deal when it comes to the hardcovers I love). One of my local shops has never had a $0.49 book and they make all kids hardcovers at LEAST $1.99. Another Goodwill in town hardly ever goes above $0.99 for kids' books and hardcovers like Little Golden Books are almost always $0.49 (I buy a lot of this store's books). From what I've gathered, they actually leave the pricing up to the person who takes care of that section instead of implementing a policy. Sadly, Goodwill never puts their books on a color tag sale (50% off for a week), but they do have a website for some of their rarer ones… or ones they THINK are rare http://www.goodwillbooks.com/ ... and some of those are WAY over priced (like a 1992 reprint paperback copy of Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-A-Zoo with writing in it for $51.99…). A MUCH better place to look for Goodwill books online is http://www.shopgoodwill.com/. This is an auction site, a lot like eBay. Again, some of the stuff has had overpriced starting bids, but some of it is well under. I have no idea how popular it is, but I've used it to get some dang rare kids books for cheap prices… I have also been outbid on things at the last minute…grrrr. Look at the lots that they list, you may find some hidden treasure!

A place called St. Vincent de Paul's has two locations locally and they have a lot of kids books too. They put pricing policies into place within the last year that make Young Adult hardcover books too pricey, but their children's books (7 and under pretty much) are a pretty nice price at $0.99 a piece (100 books for $99.00). I have done plenty of glee filled happy dances at my St. Vincent de Paul stores (books you will see soon on this blog).

Another place called Value Village has kids books for $0.69 a piece, AND they have a buy 4 get 1 free deal (a little over $0.55 each…100 books for $55.20). They only have two tall shelves of kids' books in my local one, but they have multiple bins of books all the time in the back to fill in the gaps (I've seen them wheel out a tall multi-level cart full of large bins of children's books and drool in the want to go through those bins).

I have one local charity place that gives its proceeds to some local special assistance shelters, and they sell ALL of their kids books (baby to young adult/teens) for $0.10 each! Their selection, unfortunately is lacking. But I have spent over $10.00 in there over the last year (that is over 100 books, people, for $10.00…I even purchase some paperbacks *GASP*!). I have no idea what this place is called. They are in a strip mall and the front window has "Used Books" hand painted on it. There are usually developmentally challenged people working in there, and I rarely see any other customers in there when I pick through their books. It is near the place where I get my oil changed. So, I go there every three months. I WISH more people would go there (to give their children's books to charity… not to shop)… hee hee hee.

There are other places in my town including a couple of Animal Shelter / Humane Society thrift stores, Union Gospel Mission thrift store, a Teen Challenge thrift shop, baby clothes thrift shops, consignment shops, even some Pawn shops (not very likely to find books here in most towns, but some have them), and more! Some local churches have big Book sales every year too. Also, check out some of your local "off-price" stores like Ross Dress For Less, Burlington Coat Factory etc... you won't find rare books (normally), but you will find them at a discount.

Not all of these places have Yellow Page listings under "Books -Used and Rare," BUT most of them are in the Yellow Pages under the "Thrift Store" heading. Plus, you can ask your friends and look online to see where there may be hidden books in your town.

My local library has a HUGE book sale once a year, and they have a bookshop that is open all year round with monthly specials and great cheap prices.

Oh, and don't forget about Garage Sales!

Online, you can purchase from eBay, Amazon, AbeBooks, Powell's, etc… but when you are buying used books online, 99 times out of 100 you have to pay shipping. So, those $0.01 books on Amazon, are really $4.00 each because Amazon has a required shipping price of $3.99 for all Amazon sellers (or 100 books for $400.00, OUCH). Those $4.00 books on eBay are really $8.00 (with $4.00 shipping… or slightly cheaper if you have a good seller). I recommend you research your books before paying too much for them online. Do a search on Amazon (in the Books section) for your book title (with and or without the author's name). Some assumed "rare" books just happen to have messed up names on Amazon (or no author's name listed). Don't always take your first hit at face value, look for the small print that says "Other Editions" and you may find a rare book for $0.01 (well, $4.00 with shipping)… if you see something like "Books: See all 107 items" you need to click on that first to be able to see the "Other Editions" choice on the search results page.

The biggest bonus to buying at thrift shops is that you are helping out a charity. Whether it be needy people or animals or something else, your purchases are helping to make a difference… and you are getting something you want! This is a win - win situation! Hopefully you have at least 1 in your town. Go check out some of your local thrift shops today.

Book Swapping Sites or How to Get Free Books

2009-07-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

A large amount of my children's books were received through book swapping sites. These sites mostly require you to list books and mail them out on your own dime in order to get credits to ask for other people's books for free. In other words, list 10 or more books that you will never read again and then, hopefully, people will request some of them from you right away.... but be patient. When someone wants one of your books you will get an email notification. Usually, you will have to print out a label or something and then send your books to the requester. Make sure you mark your book as sent, and when you receive a book, mark it as received!

Most of the sites have member reviews, which can help you pick out ones you want.

My experience with these sites has been 99% positive, and the people on them are usually very quick to fix problems if there happens to be any. 85% of the children's hardcovers I've received have been ex-library, but not falling apart.

If you list books, make sure that you list them by the ISBN number. Make sure that your book comes out as the format it really is (Hardcover, Paperback, Library Bound hardcover, etc). Nothing sucks worse then getting a paperback when you want a hardcover (at least to me, ha ha). You can help stop this problem by double checking. This problem usually occurs when someone has to look inside of their book for the ISBN and there are multiple ones in there (or if your book is a book club book). Here are some hints: "Lib Bdg" = Library Binding (AKA Library Bound Hardcover), "Pbk" = Paperback, "Trade" can mean regular hardcover and in some cases paperback. Most of the sites get their listing information from Amazon, and sometimes Amazon is WRONG. All of the sites let you enter a book from scratch if you run into these problems.

Your choice of books is only limited by what other people are willing to send out. The biggest downside is that you have to go to the post office and pay to ship your books out to people. Shipping to you is free though!

My three favorite are listed below, including some of their good and bad points:

Paperback Swap :
An AWESOME site with MILLIONS of books:

A) 2 free credits after listing 10 books.
B) You earn credits by having your books requested, but you do not get the credit until you send the book and the other person receives it and marks it as received. This kinda sucks if things get lost, but if you pay for shipping + delivery confirmation + $0.50 through the site you can get your credit right away.
C) PaperbackSwap has strict condition rules (must list under proper ISBN, book must not be falling apart, no water damage, no teeth marks, etc).
D) It is first-in-first-out. If you are the first person to list a book, your book will be the first to be asked for.
E) They have a "no swapping to sell" rule that they claim to be able to hunt you down if you try (ha ha). They will cancel your membership if they catch you.
F) One big downside, they allow hardcovers to be Dust-jacket-less, and there is no way to know if the book you are going to get will have one or not because they don't have condition notes (if you are ordering a hardcover). I have had many "dang it" moments, but I have also had many woo-hoo moments too!
G) All orders are supposed to be sent within 1 week of being ordered. I usually get my books faster through PaperbackSwap because of this.
H) You Can BUY credits for $3.50 each (plus a total fee of $0.50 is added to your order… I am guessing to cover some of their credit card and/or PayPal costs) if you run across a book you must have but don't have credit for it! This is NICE, but spendy. If you join their SwapaDVD site (http://www.swapaDVD.com) you can trade DVD credits for Book credits (2 DVD credits for 3 book credits)
F) You can make "Requester's Conditions" requirements like "NO Smoke smelly books" that a person will have to comply with before sending you their copy of a book. If you receive something that doesn't fit your requirements, you can get your credit back (and recycle or give that smelly book to charity).
G) They have a wish list and they will email you and hold the book for a couple days for you to order it (limited to 200 titles currently, and the first person to "Wish" for a book will get first option to order it).
H) You can give other credits.
I) OVER 3.7 million books to choose from!
J) Free to join, free to be a member (for now)

BookMooch
http://www.bookmooch.com

(Logo artwork courtesy of BookMooch.com)

A GREAT site with ove a million books from all over the WORLD:
A) 1 free credit for EVERY 10 books listed (1/10 of a credit per book) (list 100 books, get 10 free credits).
B) You earn 1/10 of a credit by marking a book received (receive 100 books, get 10 free credits).
C) You immediately get a credit when someone asks for your books (10 books requested = 10 credits)
D) You can get Books from other countries! They cost an extra credit, but there are probably some great books out there that aren't in your country!
E) You immediately get a credit when someone asks for your books.
F) You can't buy credits on BookMooch.
G) There are optional condition notes. It is always great when you can read that a book comes from a smoke free home and is in brand new condition.
H) You can request any book you want based on condition notes. In other words, if 75 people have the book you want, you get to pick and choose which person you want to "mooch" from.
I) People can take as long as they want to send your book… I waited over 6 months for one, but that was an extreme case. A lot of people on a budget only send out books once a month up to a certain dollar amount, and they tell you that on their page.
J) They have a wish list. Bookmooch will just send you an email when someone lists a book, and then you have to hope that you are the first person to the site to order it. One nice thing about the list is that it is unlimited.
K) You can give credits to others.
L) Pretty much advertisement free
M) Over 1 million books to choose from!
N) Free to join, free to be a member

Frugal Reader http://www.FrugalReader.com
Not the best but certainly not the worst:

A) List at least 9 books, and get TWO free credits. Once someone receives your book(s) you will get your credit(s)
B) You can become a "Premium Member" after two of your books are requested and received (there are some perks for this).
C) You can buy credits for $2.99 to $3.49 each (depending on how many you buy at a time).
D) Not as popular as Book Mooch or Paperback Swap. So, the selection is lacking.
E) People can set their books to cost more then 1 credit, and hardcovers are usually 2 credits. So, someone can "jack-up" their "prices" for current popular books, or be nice and keep them at 1 or 2 credits. I have seen a hardcover that I really wanted on there for 6 credits ($17.94), but I refused to pay that.
F) There is a wish list.
G) People can list condition information
H) Some annoying advertisements.
I) Over 29,000 books to choose from
J) Free to Join, free to be a member

There are other companies out there, but these are the main three for me. Some of the others are linked below. Feel free to tell me about others, please!

NOW, GO OUT AND DO SOME BOOK SWAPPING!

Recycle your books and get new-to-you ones!

Related links:
http://www.paperbackswap.com
http://www.bookmooch.com
http://www.frugalreader.com/
http://www.bookcrossing.com/
http://whatsonmybookshelf.com/
http://www.swapsimple.com/ (not just books, but $2 fee per trade, ugh)
http://www.readitswapit.co.uk (UK swapping site, so, I've never used it)
http://www.swapadvd.com (great DVD swapping site, connected to PaperbackSwap)

Secret Confessions of a Hardcover Lover or Why I Love Hardcovers!

2009-07-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

I love hardcovers (or hardbacks to some people). I love their heft. I love their feel. They feel safe to me, and they feel important. I prefer them in all that I read. Whether it be to my children or to myself. I do own 100's of paperbacks, but I wish they were all hardcovers. In fact, I am constantly searching for hardcovers to replace the paperbacks that I cherish.

Why am I a hardcover snob? Hmm. Good question. I grew up with paperbacks, and I don't remember them falling apart back then. Nowadays, I seem to buy brand new children's paperbacks and the middle sections fall out just by turning the pages. When I get "vintage" kids paperbacks (anything over 20 years old), the staples are rusting and/or falling apart a lot of the times, or the glue is deteriorating and the pages just fall out. This has happened to my four-year-old son as he reads to himself. He sits there quietly turning the pages, and then a group of four pages fall out, *plop* in his hands. He looks up at me with a pained and anguished expression in his eyes. His mouth forming an excuse that he doesn't have, "I… I…" He has "hurt" the book he loves, and it is almost too much to burden. Then, of course, I have to "fix it"… somehow. If anyone has advice on how to fix these problems, PLEASE tell me.

I do not care if my hardcovers are ex-library. In fact, ex-library ones usually have special extra secure bindings! Of course, I still don't prefer them because the 30 and 40-year-old ones are usually pretty tattered from re-readings. I recently noticed on Amazon that you can buy a lot of the new children's books as (not ex-library but) library bound hardcovers (for about $10.00+ more then the paperback). The price hurts, and I personally haven't made that jump.

I prefer my hardcovers to have dust jackets. Especially if they don't have a picture printed on the cover itself! Why? Because there is usually exclusive artwork on the dust jacket, and artwork is a big part of children's books. I have bought many children's books just because of the awesome artwork (what parent hasn't?).

There is one more BIG reason that I want hardcovers, and there is a stipulation here, to be specific, first edition hardcovers… not because of their collectibillity but because a lot of kids books get edited over time. Why? Who knows? My guess is that publishers start deleting pages to save printing costs. I will write another blog about this very soon, but I will mention one book now: The classic original Little Critter book, "Just for You" by Mercer Mayer. The first printing has about 6 or more pages of artwork and story that are totally missing from the edition that you buy today. For a preview, see the pictures I uploaded onto Amazon's page for it here: Just for You

Of course, some books are so rare or hard to find, that I am satisfied to buy a paperback for cheap if I run across it at Goodwill or another thrift store... BUT I will still be constantly searching for the hardcover to replace it with.

What was the name of that book again? or How to find out what those books are from your past!

2009-07-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been perplexed by a book from your past? Or one that your kids remember, but you don't? Have you lost the title? Have you forgotten the author's name? Can you only remember one drawing and that is it? Or maybe just one line from it? Have you gotten to the point where you think you DREAMED it all because no one else seems to remember?

If you can remember pieces of it, but you just can't get the title or author right to be able to satisfy that itch of remembrance then there MAY be help for you! This has happened a few times to me, and I still can't figure out one children's book from my past (and one movie). The Internet is a lovely thing. Even if you can only remember that the book was oblong and had a whole menagerie of zoo animals packed into a bus on the cover… someone might know EXACTLY what book you are talking about.

Please help other people on these sites too. I do it all the time in my spare time. OH, and please go back and tell them if they got it right (and say thank you too, ha ha). Don't get too frustrated if no one seems to know. I give each site a month (I'm patient), and then post to the next site.

Helpful hints:

1) Post the exact year you read the book (or time frame) (IE: 1979 or 2005), and the year you think it was from.

2) Post where you found the book (IE: Book store in Vancouver Canada or Grade School Library in Southern California). Some books are only printed in specific countries, and some are by "local authors."

3) Tell as much of the story as you can and quote it if you can. (IE: two kids walk into a house that might be haunted and see the "twisted remains of a dead.. battery." They go inside… blah blah…).

4) Be specific with your details (IE Purple cover with black and white drawings on every other page)

5) Reading level of book (IE: 1st grade, 5th grade, adult)... in other words, how old were you at the time.

6) Hardcover or Paperback?

7) Put information in your title… not just "what book is this" (IE: "Book about a vampire bunny and the cat who tries to destroy him")

Memory is a funny thing, and we all get things wrong, but don't be scared to over-describe. One little detail is all some people need to have the "Ah ha!" reaction.

So, an example post would be (this is the one that I haven't been able to figure out):

TITLE: 80's book 2 Kids go into a spooky house and see the "twisted remains of a dead battery"

BODY: Illustrated hardcover book (pen and ink, black and white, cartoony on almost every other page) probably around 40-60 pages, with Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) like structure, but I don't remember there actually being choices. I just remember having to flip to another part of the book. The book may have had a purple cover with a haunted house on it. It may have been written in the second person ("You walk up the sink..." etc).
Reading level: about 3rd to 5th grade. I don't think it had chapters because of its CYOA qualities.
This was a hardcover in my grade school's library, in southern California, that I read around 1985-1987 (could have come out earlier).
Plot: Two boys (brothers I think) venture into a scary house. They think the house is haunted.
The pages ended with cliffhangers that always end up being quite funny:
Almost verbatim I remember that as they come to the front door, they look down at the door mat and see, "the twisted dead remains of…" (turn to page XX…*flip flip flip*) "a battery!"
Thank you for your help!

Here are some of the sites I've used and looked at. If you know of others PLEASE COMMENT and I can add them on here:

What's That Book:
http://www.whatsthatbook.com/
A quick way to list your question with a free sign up! This one has categories to make helping and listing easier.

What Was That Book (LiveJournal):
http://community.livejournal.com/whatwasthatbook/
Organized by last one posted. All posts are monitored before being posted. You have to be a LiveJournal member (free).

What Was That One (LiveJournal)
http://community.livejournal.com/whatwasthatone/
See above… but this one also does other general questions including Movies.

Loganberry Books' Stump the Bookseller:
http://www.loganberrybooks.com/stump.html
NOT Free to post, but pretty accurate (to a point, I found one mistake about a Mercer Mayer Little Monster book that they labeled as the "correct answer") . You can answer any ones you want. I just wish there was a way to put all the newest ones at the top of the list… or all unanswered ones. It makes it easier for people to help out.

LibraryThing's Name That Book
http://www.librarything.com/groups/namethatbook
LibraryThing is an AWESOME site for getting organized, and you can join for free (there are payment options if you have a lot of books). I haven't used this forum yet, but I will!

Barnes and Noble's Lost Books:
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board?board.id=lostbooks
A Discussion forum at Barnes and Noble's website.

Aunt Book http://www.auntbook.com

Yahoo Answers Book section:
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/index;_ylt=Aiiil2YSMuL_tRlN7KJm0y.IxQt.;_ylv=3?sid=396545299&link=list
Not specifically for these questions, but I've seen them on there.

Amazon discussion forum
http://www.amazon.com/communities/directory/genres/
Find your genre, post your question

Google Books
http://books.google.com/
Not a community, but a great way to search with only pieces of information.

Good Reads
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/185.What_s_The_Name_of_That_Book

Shelfari
http://www.shelfari.com/groups/10299/about

Good luck and Happy Hunting!

Mercer Mayer's Wordless Books: Boys, Dogs, Frogs, Bears, Birds, Cats, and more!

2009-06-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

Mercer Mayer is a very fun illustrator and author. He is currently best known for his Little Critter series, but, as a child in the 1970s, I remember staring at the pictures in the "A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog" series for hours. I had the mini-hardcover collection called "Four Frogs in a Box" which had "A Boy, a Dog and a Frog" (1967), "Frog, Where Are You?" (1969), "A Boy, a Dog, a Frog, and a Friend" (1971, co-written by Marianna Mayer), and "Frog on His Own" (1973) in it. I only recently found out that there were two more books in the series: "Frog Goes to Dinner" (1974), and "One Frog Too Many" (1975), and I've only added one of those to my collection so far (update 07/24/09, I finally broke down and purchased "One Frog Too Many" from Amazon... it arrived 2 days ago, and it is just as sweet as all of the other entries).

These books are virtually wordless. Once in awhile there is a single word in the picture somewhere, but it usually isn't a vital part of the story (like on a sign).

Mercer Mayer did two wordless "Flip-Books" (one story on one side and one story on the other) that contained two stories each called "Two Moral Tales" (1974) and "Two More Moral Tales" (1974). "Two Moral Tales" has the stories "Bird's New Hat" and "Bear's New Clothes." "Two More Moral Tales" has the stories "Sly Fox's Folly" and "Just a Pig At Heart." I don't think these were reprinted very much, and they are hard to find. Mine are ex-library hardcovers, and they are staying together pretty well.

Mercer Mayer did a similar series, but they usually had one word that was repeated throughout the book. These books featured a Hippo or an Elephant as the main protagonist. "Ah-choo" (1976), "Hiccup" (1976), "Oops" (1977) .

"The Great Cat Chase: A Wordless Book" is another one of Mercer Mayer's wordless books, but it was eventually re-released in 1994 with words written by Mercer Mayer (and in full color). Why did the publishers and Mercer Mayer decided to add words? I don't know. I don't think it would be because kids were getting the plot incorrectly. The plot is pretty basic: A girl's cat runs away, and a chase begins to get the cat back! In my opinion, The colorized version sort of dissolves the charm of the pen and ink drawings of the original, but it is still a great book.

"Walk Robot Walk" (1974) is another wordless book by Mercer Mayer. It is pretty hard to find, but very cute. It is a story of a boy who builds a robot and commands it to, "Walk," and then chaos ensues as the robot starts to walk... over the milkman, through the house, etc!

Many of Mercer Mayer's books can work as wordless books. His illustrations tell his stories very well and are quite endearing. A large part of "You're the Scaredy-Cat" is told through its pictures alone, and an un-reading child can easily figure out the whole story. "Bubble Bubble" is another great example. Both of them have a slight monster-aspect, but they are fairly tame.

I love Mercer Mayer's eye for detail. Especially in his books from the 60s and 70s. The eye jumps from one beautifully cross-hatched section of a page to another masterful pen and ink stroke on another part of the page. These wordless books force you to slow down and enjoy the pictures even more. Mostly because you aren't being rushed along by the words. Better yet, have your kids read it to you. A two minute story can become a 30 minute art filled experience that is filled with a story that is as elaborate as your child's imagination!

Welcome to my Blog, "Book 'em Bob!"

2009-06-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Blog, "Book 'em Bob!" I am planning on writing mostly about books, and reviews for books on this site including children's picture books (with authors like Mercer Mayer, Maurice Sendak, Steven Kellogg, James Marshall, James Stevenson, David McPhail and many more). I will dabble in other publication related things too.

About me: I am a father of two wonderful children. A boy and a girl, and I read to them constantly. We have our favorites, and somehow, over the years, we have collected over 1,000 children's books in our library including over 200 by Mercer Mayer alone! You can take a wild guess on who a few of these posts are going to be about.