Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Bad Books for Kids

Recently, at our holiday work party, we had a little friendly contest to see which staff member could find the worst book cover in our collection. Entries were submitted anonymously and voting took place during the pot luck lunch.
This was my contribution:


Ok, ok -- before anyone jumps down my throat for being insensitive to this serious subject, I do agree that there should be children's books that address issues that some kids sadly have to cope with. My problem with this book was the unfortunate title paired with the depressing cover art and the funny image of dad slumped over in his drinkin' chair. The book is over 20 years old and is the last copy in our collection, so I have to imagine that the children's department now has to have something better or at least more relevant. The children's staff member I did show it to was shocked that we still owned it, but did do a very entertaining reading of it using his "storytime" voice.

Of course I didn't win, and the books that placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd weren't really unintentially funny (ok, maybe 2nd was) so apparently I work with some folks that don't get it(which actually sounds about right). I voted for the book below, as whichever coworker who submitted it understood what the contest was really all about, asking yourself which editor approved that?!

Trixie gets a surprise from her friend's busy hand!