THE SMART ALECK'S GUIDE TO NAUGHTY PLAYGROUND SONGS and CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
 Only 2.99 on: Kindle (coming sept) or Or try a free nook app | The staff who brought you the acclaimed SMART ALECK'S GUIDE TO AMERICAN HISTORY (Random House 2009) is back with a look at the history of the songs and jokes you repeated when the teacher wasn't around, from Miss Suzy and her steam boat to the numerous songs about killing teachers, eating underwear, and coming down with the case of diarrhea, with an additional look at the dirty jokes, ghost stories, pranks and customs that have been passed from kid to kid for generations. Tracing many songs back hundreds of years (while debunking myths about the "origins" of others) using data from their popular PLAYGROUND JUNGLE blog, the guide is fascinating, hilarious, and will bring back memories for everyone. Those jokes are older than you thought! With their usual "brainy but lighthearted" approach, theSmart Aleck Staff's latest guide includes fascinating looks at the history and mythology surrounding "Miss Mary Mack," "Miss Suzy Had a Steamboat," "Me Chinese," "A Boy's Occupation," "Ring Around the Rosie" (which was not about the plague, but may have been about a prostitute), and dozens more, examining their variations, evolution, and origins in soldier slang, 18th century tavern songs and ancient folk ballads. In addition to rhymes, songs, and jokes, the staff delves into customs like "Jinx," "Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board," and "Cooties," as well as section on "wicked four square moves," with side trips along the way into the evolution of the word "poop," the various synonyms for "level" used by video game players in the '80s, and the history of fart jokes, plus the staff's trademark hilarious "assignments" and "experiments to try at home." A fascinating history lesson and a great nostalgia trip for children of the 80s, in particular, though it' will surely bring back memories for anyone who ever spent any time at a school or camp. This full-length (over 50,000 words) ebook contains an active table of contents, active internal links, and a handy active index of first lines, as well as an appendix full of original songs such as "Drink Your Juice (or You'll Get Scurvy)" and "Glumpy, The Elf Who Sawed His Leg Off." A wonderful resource for writers - or anyone who wants to be the hit of their next party. |
Now Available From The Authors This Site:
| THE SMART ALECK'S GUIDE TO AMERICAN HISTORY! Random House, 2009 "In the vein of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert...witty, comedic and appealing..." - School Library Journal | |
 | I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT! Random House, 2010 "Simultaneously a scathing parody (of Twilight) and a sweetly romantic tale in its own right...hilarious." - Kirkus "Delightfully wicked." - Publishers Weekly ikissedazombie.com |
SOURCES FOR THIS SITE:
THE LANGUAGE AND LORE OF SCHOOL CHILDREN This is a fascinating collection of rhymes, songs, superstitions, etc, from the 1950s in England. Many similarities to the stuff I heard as a kid in the States in the 80s. Probably the best book on the subject by the best author on the subject. | |
GREASY GRIMY GOPHER GUTS From the mid 1990s, probably the best American study. | |
THE PEOPLE IN THE PLAYGROUND From the author of "Language and Lore of Schoolchildren," a narrative describing field work in playgrounds, circa the 1970s. Fascinating stuff - Opie is certainly the best author I've read on the subject, partly because she doesn't attempt to hide the fact that she rather enjoys the rude rhymes, instead of trying to justify them on some sort of psychological grounds, like most researchers do. | |
THE SINGING GAME Singing Games recorded in the UK through the 20th century, tracing some of them back much, much further. Interesting that so many of these games were alive and well in the U.K. as of the late 1970s. | |
AMERICAN CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE This one includes more jokes and stories. The author's photo makes him look like Tobias Fuhke. The book is worth buying for that alone. | |
ONE POTATO TWO POTATO From 1976, this is about the earliest major American compendium of children's folklore, and contains just about every joke, story and song I knew in the 80s and 90s. | |
IN A DARK DARK ROOM Still a staple of Easy-Ready libraries, as it has been since I was a kid, Alvin Schwartz wasn't afraid to be scary when retelling these stories and rhymes (some of which appear, verbatim, in collections by Iona and Peter Opie - there's a page of "sources" at the back of the book. You don't see many Easy Readers with endnotes!). |
