Saturday, July 22, 2006

Pretty Stories and Funny Pictures (Not)For Little Children

I remember, back in highschool, this guy Zach reading from a book called Pretty Stories and Funny Pictures For Little Children by Heinrich Hoffmann. Let's just say there was nothing pretty nor funny (ok, well funny yes but for kids no) about this book. Now, all of these 'stories' were designed with some kind of moral in mind. But lemme tell ya, they were all like Rock a Bye Baby from a 20 story building by a crack whore mother. One sweet tale, that is permanently etched in my mind, warns of a little girl who plays with matches/gets caught on fire/runs around flaming/then falls to the ground dead/ with illustrations to match! (psst if you click the red link you'll see the flaming girl for yourself) Do we need to horrify children to teach them?...I was 16 and it scared me. Any hoo, my friend Amy sent me these story book covers. And ya know, they don't seem so far off from the real thing.





9 comments:

speed_demon said...

Well, scare tactics definitely works, even now. Look at what's happening in the US (i.e. the infamous terror levels). This simple tactic keeps us (i.e. average people) more docile and easily manipulated.

So, same goes for children. If you are desparately wishing them to listen to your command. Why not try scaring them?

Kat said...

Hey speed demon. (like the south park pic)
Yes you're right...just usually nowadays we're so 'careful' about what we show our kids that it's funny see books from the past. You'd be hard pressed to find such brutally honest literature. Although I do always convince my daughter to do things by threatening that a body part may fall off or that she could turn in to a troll. And ya, it works. lol

Anonymous said...

Hey kitty,

Made Ribs ala Kat yesterday. They were the belle of the ball. Everybody raved!

Well, except my brother-in-law and my nephew. They are Muslim and they don't dig on swine , but they did enjoy the bbq sauce on their burgers.

Have to say that my home-made cole slaw took almost as many compliments as your ribs. Well done on both fronts, I guess.

Thanks again for the recipe!

wv: wfvkq (there is a cuss word in there somewhere...I know it!)

Anonymous said...

why is mommy moaning?

that made me laugh! :)

Anonymous said...

why is mommy moaning?

that made me laugh! :)

Kat said...

WOOOO HOOOO! Way to go earl. *pats back* Glad you took the time to prepare these tasties. And dually happy that everyone liked it.
Lemme know when you're tummy starts rumblin again...although it sounds as though you're pretty handy with an apron on yerself.

slyde- I knew you'd like that one you naughty boy.

Anonymous said...

of course! :)-

elizabeth said...

Um - was that Zach "B" by chance? He was an odd egg.

Kat said...

Oh yes it was...and he was very odd...but not quite as odd as Steve (can't remember his last name). He was in our drama class and he always used to pretend that he was on the phone with the russian secret service. Remember? Very tall, very skinny, very weird. Sometimes in the hall too, he'd start to run and then hide at the and of a string of lockers, as if someone was chasing him.

wv- K razy S teve W as V ery W eird