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The Very Bad Book was written as a
collaborative effort between Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton.
Working over six
months they, "goaded each other to ever sillier stories and pictures". Us, of a
more mature age, will see the influence of the Mad magazine,
particularly Spy V Spy and the border cartoons and The
Itchy & Scratchy Show, to name a couple, in their writings. That was
one of the pleasures of reading this book as an adult, to be able to recall some
of the childhood craziness that my parents frowned upon in my reading
selections. On first reading, some of the jokes were just corny and dated but I
recall telling these exact same crass, bad taste, base jokes when I was a kid,
and that
recollection made me smile.
The Very Bad Book, and its precursor,
The Bad Book evolved from the Just series of books, another of
the many series and styles written by Andy Griffiths. Griffiths is a very
flexible writer who can readily adjust his style to the age and reading ability
and interests of his 8 to 14 year old audience.
Some of the characters and story lines
include, the Killer Koalas, Mud Brown & the Seven Slobs,
The Very Bad Dentist, The Adventures of ther Dog Poo Family,
Invasion of the Blood Sucking Grannies from the Grave, to name a few,
which gives one a sense of the story lines. Many can be read at multiple
levels. At their simpliest the stories are just plain fun, albeit politically
incorrect. At another level however, there is a subliminal message that being
bad can have bad consequences, for example in the The Very Bad
Ant and The Three Very Bad Guys.
It is easy to imagine these type of books being
directed stereotypically at the young boy market, however Griffiths has
indicated,
"50% of the emails he receives about these books are from young girls".
On first reading an adult can easily be
distracted by references to body parts and body functions and bad
actions, ones they may not be necessarily comfortable with, but they should let
their inner child
arise for a moment and then try reading it from that perspective. More
importantly, consider the fun your child will have in reading it. These
Bad books aren't all that bad and could be the key to getting your
child to take an active interest in reading.
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