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humor in children's books
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From: Tana Elias <telias>
Date: Mon, 04 May 1998 22:27:54 -0700
I agree with both Nina Lindsay and Susan Daugherty - I like the "eeuw gross humor" as much as anyone, but wouldn't recommend it exclusively. For example, when Jonathan London's first Froggy book came out (Froggy Gets Dressed) I read it over and over and it was always funny. But several Froggy books and one Little Red Monkey later, the underpants trick doesn't strike me as funny - but that's because I'm expecting something more original from the author. However, I find the kids I work with don't have my high standards! In the "gross humor" vein, would anyone care to comment on The Adventures of Captain Underpants? I haven't read it yet, though I read an excellent review of it in the Minneapolis Tribune several months ago.
And what do people think of Gregory Maguire's Seven Spiders Spinning or Six Haunted Hairdos? Or Mean Margaret, by Tor Seidler and Jon Agee? I especially enjoyed the latter. Who couldn't sympathize with the rather stodgy main character who experiences so many enlightening changes at the expense of his own sanity - marriage, fatherhood, and having to live and get along with strangers.
It seems to me that humor in children's books has evolved from the humorous books I remember growing up - some of the scenes in the Ramona books, for example, or Frog and Toad, or Wind in the Willows. Though we still see a lot of "funny school stories," there seems to be more subversive (gross) humor, and more sophisticated humor (The Stinky Cheese Man, for example), and also more of what I call "coping humor" such as that mentioned by Lee Sullivan Hill in a discussion of Wringer. There seems to be less "character" humor, such as that provided by Toad in Wind and the Willows (or Frog and Toad), or Wilbur in Charlotte's Web, or Pippi Longstocking. In that way, I think The Wicked Witch Is At It Again! (Hanna Kraan) is a new, unique offering of this sort of humor that seems to have lost some popularity in recent years.
As you can see, I've been thinking about humor (or lack thereof) in children's books quite a bit lately - and am looking forward to the rest of this discussion!
Tana Elias, Librarian Meadowridge Branch, Madison (WI) Public Library telias at execpc.com
Received on Tue 05 May 1998 12:27:54 AM CDT
Date: Mon, 04 May 1998 22:27:54 -0700
I agree with both Nina Lindsay and Susan Daugherty - I like the "eeuw gross humor" as much as anyone, but wouldn't recommend it exclusively. For example, when Jonathan London's first Froggy book came out (Froggy Gets Dressed) I read it over and over and it was always funny. But several Froggy books and one Little Red Monkey later, the underpants trick doesn't strike me as funny - but that's because I'm expecting something more original from the author. However, I find the kids I work with don't have my high standards! In the "gross humor" vein, would anyone care to comment on The Adventures of Captain Underpants? I haven't read it yet, though I read an excellent review of it in the Minneapolis Tribune several months ago.
And what do people think of Gregory Maguire's Seven Spiders Spinning or Six Haunted Hairdos? Or Mean Margaret, by Tor Seidler and Jon Agee? I especially enjoyed the latter. Who couldn't sympathize with the rather stodgy main character who experiences so many enlightening changes at the expense of his own sanity - marriage, fatherhood, and having to live and get along with strangers.
It seems to me that humor in children's books has evolved from the humorous books I remember growing up - some of the scenes in the Ramona books, for example, or Frog and Toad, or Wind in the Willows. Though we still see a lot of "funny school stories," there seems to be more subversive (gross) humor, and more sophisticated humor (The Stinky Cheese Man, for example), and also more of what I call "coping humor" such as that mentioned by Lee Sullivan Hill in a discussion of Wringer. There seems to be less "character" humor, such as that provided by Toad in Wind and the Willows (or Frog and Toad), or Wilbur in Charlotte's Web, or Pippi Longstocking. In that way, I think The Wicked Witch Is At It Again! (Hanna Kraan) is a new, unique offering of this sort of humor that seems to have lost some popularity in recent years.
As you can see, I've been thinking about humor (or lack thereof) in children's books quite a bit lately - and am looking forward to the rest of this discussion!
Tana Elias, Librarian Meadowridge Branch, Madison (WI) Public Library telias at execpc.com
Received on Tue 05 May 1998 12:27:54 AM CDT
