The book I am looking for, a book I read at my elementary school library quite often, is a children’s book, maybe aimed at the 9-12 year old set. I suspect from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s. It was a book of self-proclaimed nonsense, with riddles and jokes and poems and shaggy dog stories, with surrealistic drawings and text. The sense of humor was counter-cultural and a bit Monty Pythonesque. I seem to recall that it had the “As I was going to St Ives” riddle in it.
It was a larger format book, 8.5”x11” or larger, and around 80 pages. I think the cover was a brownish green. The drawing style was in a similar borderline grotesque line-art mode as the illustrations for Shel Silverstein or Roald Dahl books, but with a significant amount of clip art and a throwback-y quality to it. I think the title itself had the word nonsense in it, or a word with a similar meaning.
I’ve been racking my brains trying to recall more about it, but that’s all I can seem to manage.
Maybe check books illustrated by Quentin Blake? He has a similar style, and was illustrating at that time.
This sounds like it could be one in my elementary school library in the ’70’s. Did yours have a poem that went:
My father took me to the moon, the moon
My father took me to the moon
And when we got there what did we see
but a great big fuzzy moon goon, moon goon,
a great big fuzzy moon goon
(Now you must repeat this 1,000 times or you will turn into a bathtub.)
If it is the same book, I’m not much help in identifying it, but maybe this will help to jog someone else’s memory.
Found this one, but have no idea how big it is or what it contains. It also has different covers.
A WORLD OF NONSENSE by Withers, Carl
Possibly Roger Lancelyn Green: A Book of Nonsense (1956)
_A World of Nonsense_ looks very promising, I’ll pick up a copy and check! The big fuzzy moon goon poem sounds very much in keeping with the book I recall.
I think Green is a little too early for the countercultural theme of the book I remember. Quentin Blake is the illustrator for many Rod Dahl books, I believe. The style is not quite as grotesque as those or as Shel Silverstein’s.
Maybe “Coles Funny Picture Books”
There are 4 of them printed from 1879 to 1991?
Riddles, Drawings, and puzzles
Try Wikipedia for more information
The book Meg refers to above is “The Silly Book” by Stoo Hample — and that was what occurred to me too!
Is it REMY CHARLIP’S ARM-IN-ARM?
This has a story on one page that spirals inward about a dark and stormy night where a sea captain starts a story about a dark and stormy night where a sea captain starts a story about a dark and stomy night…
The Whole Mirth Catalogue?