THE SMART ALECK'S GUIDE TO NAUGHTY PLAYGROUND SONGS and CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
 Only 2.99 on: or Or try a free nook app | "The Folk Process is how an ancient ballad about making violins out of dead bodies evolves into a song about pooping your overalls." 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. |
THE SMART ALECK'S GUIDE TO GRAVE ROBBING
 | In this out-of-left-field follow up to the acclaimed SMART ALECK'S GUIDE TO AMERICAN HISTORY (Random House, 2009), the smart aleck staff delves into the history, theory and practice of grave robbing. It's everything you need to launch YOUR career as a 19th century resurrection man - the smart aleck way! With their trademark humor somehow staying (mostly) in the bounds of good taste, the staff delves into the reality behind tales of Victorian "mummy unwrapping parties," the days when anyone who came into possession of a dead body could trade it for cash or valuable prizes at medical schools, no questions asked, and murderers who found that simply killing a person to sell to colleges saved them a lot of digging, and conduct interviews with horror novelists and archaeologists. THE SMART ALECK'S GUIDE TO GRAVE ROBBING is fascinating, disgusting, and entertaining. In addition to the history, it features sections like a handy set of rhymes to help you remember whether "coffin liquor" is safe to drink based on the color and texture. As a text book, it comes complete with quizzes, assignments, and experiments to try at home (the history book included experiments like finding out if it hurts to get poked in the liver, and assignments included making a propaganda poster for your teacher - one can imagine that the assignments in a grave robbing text are pretty grim....) Not for the faint of heart, but horror fans, trivia buffs, and the historically inclined will find much to enjoy (albeit not before dinner). The full length ebook contains an active table of contents, active internal links, and the complete famous "Diary of a Resurrectionist" in the appendix. |
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