Sometimes it was the weirdest childhood books that were the ones you wanted read to you over and over (and over) again. Rediscover those lost classics and many more offbeat and downright bizarre wonders on Curious Pages , a blog devoted to “recommended inappropriate books for kids.”
Edited by writers-illustrators Lane Smith (Stinky Cheese Man) and Bob Shea (Dinosaur vs. Bedtime ), Curious Pages includes full-page scans of the wackiest children’s books around, accompanied by clever commentary. A message greets readers: “Looking for books about teddy bears or rainbows or feelings? You’re at the wrong place. Here we celebrate the offbeat, the abstract, the unusual, the macabre, the inappropriate, the subversive and the funky.” And indeed: There’s the fantastically illustrated Emergency Mouse, featuring Hunter S. Thompson as bucket-hatted rodent; a cardboard-paged volume titled Baby Fix Me a Drink; and Edward Gorey’s ABC’s classic Grashlycrumb Tinies (“A is for AMY who fell down the stairs. B is for BASIL assaulted by bears.”).
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