One of my favorite children’s books ( well, kind of children’s book) is from the slightly skewed mind of Edward Gorey, the late, American born ( although he is widely thought to be British) artist-illustrator/nonsense writer. The book is The Gashlycrumb Tinies which is set up as a primer for the ABC’s, a veritable alphabet of the Gashlycrumb children’s demises.
It is macabre and perhaps not really for children but it is full of humor and imagination that Gorey brought to much of his work, up until his death in 2000. You can easily see the influence of Gorey on the work of Tim Burton and others.
It starts with A is for Amy who fell down the stairs and finishes with Z is for Zillian who drank too much gin. In between are 24 other little scenarios that play (or haunt) on the imagination. My favorite might be N is for Neville who died of ennui although I do like B is for Basil assaulted by bears. If you would like to see the whole alphabet simply click on the image of Amy or Basil and you’ll be whisked to it so you might enjoy it in it’s entirety.
Redtree Times 