Really weird kids’ books from the past

[aweebitlost]

I was reading the DC The Elephant & the Bad Baby tonight and it struck me how very odd it is.

An elephant takes a baby for a joyride to nick a load of food and then everyone is cross with the baby for not saying please?!

Then there’s the Long Slide with the 3 stuffed animals that climb a giant slide, vomit, meet some witches etc and don’t seem to get any pleasure out of the experience.

AIBU or were some kids’ books from the past plain bizarre?! Any other good ones people can think of?

Conrad, the boy a single lady ordered. He arrived in a big tin, needed a tin opener to get him out if I remember rightly.

Changes. It’s kind of about a boy who appears to be having hallucinations. He’s been told by his parents that ‘things are going to change’. He’s at home on his own and all the furniture started turning into animals. Then at the end his mum comes home with his new baby sister - and that’s the change they were talking about. It’s really odd.

The Elephant and the Bad Baby was a big favourite here. We had to replace it, the first copy wore out.

Bye Bye Baby is odd, about a baby who lived by himself. "He even had to change his own nappy."

I loved The Elephant and the Bad Baby too!

Marvin Wanted More. Ds used to love it. A sheep is hungry so it eats the whole world. Then it realises it is lonely so it vomits it all back up again and everything is good again albeit a bit upside down

The Three Robbers. So good. So weird.

Children's stories are supposed to be quite fabntastical aren't they? The Night Kitchen, Not Now Bernard ....

The mole who had a poo on his head

We all loved The Elephant and the Bad Baby but it was rather strange.
I always thought Not Now Bernard was strange.

I remember a book of poems - Ladybird, ladybird fly away home. Your house is on fire and your children are none.

Pictures of a ladybird flying home to a little nest in an ear of corn, baby lady birds in a row all laid on their backs on fire. Weird.

...and they went rumpeta rumpeta rumpeta ALL down the road!

Ah, the nostalgia.

Each peach pear plum

The Read It Yourself Rapunzel always used to weird me out too. Why do they need so much lettuce?

My DD brought a really awful one home from school the other week. About a kid that dreams he's flying round in the sky with ghost children. I'm sure there was nudity involved as well. Can't remember the author .

Little rabbit foo foo

Nasty little fucker he was. One of my all time favourites

I work in a library and my theory is that children’s authors do a lot of hallucinogenic drugs right before they start writing. Especially the picture book writers…

The Giant Jam Sandwich. They use it to trap a load of wasps.

I loved the elephant and the bad baby. Until I had dc and realised its horrible to read.

I also loved "There's a Hippopotamus on the roof earing cake" as a child.

Maybe not weird but one of my favourite childhood books was Phoebe and the hot water bottles. It was taken out of print as a firebrigade complained as it might make children think they could put our fires with hot water bottles, then get a puppy as a gift! Lol. I tried to purchase a copy for my own kids, but it goes for over £100

Omg @GoodnightGrandma I remember Conrad! It was very strange.

Not Now Bernard.

For older children: Plague 99, Marianne Dreams, Split Second, Annerton Pit, Behind The Attic Wall. All wonderfully weird!

I loved the elephant and the baby. But is it really any stranger than avocado baby? Or the children who lived in a barn?

All the Ant and Bee books. They’re bonkers.

@Lonelydaisy

Each peach pear plum

What’s weird about that?

Children's books are all really weird though if you start analysing them.
The tiger who came to tea gives some very odd messages.
Not now Bernard is both weird and incredibly sad.