Friday, July 27, 2007

The 2 Ton Canary & Other Nonsense Riddles

The 2 Ton Canary & Other Nonsense Riddles
by Polly Cameron/ published 1965 by Coward, McCanne & Geoghegan


"What is black, lives in a tree and is very dangerous? A crow with a machine gun."

Not all the riddles in this book are that sinister.

"What hops, lives in the grass and is very dangerous? A frog with a hand grenade."

Well... I suppose this was the era of Vietnam. If other kids were anything like my husband (born 1956), they spent the span of their childhoods glued to the TV every night watching war footage on the news. So, I suppose those implements of destruction came with the territory. Machine guns and hand grenades aside, the rest of this clever book is lighthearted and fun, devised using the author's keen sense of design. The illustrations are made up of smudged together finger prints, drawings and light collage.

According to the back of the book, Ms. Cameron overheard some kids making a silly joke and was intrigued enough to plant a joke suggestion box in her neighborhood store, and after over 300 hundred suggestions, a book was born.

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