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Sipping Spiders through a Straw: Campfire Songs for Monsters by McCann β€” book cover

Sipping Spiders through a Straw: Campfire Songs for Monsters

by McCann, Gris Grimly
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Overview

A delightfully chilling musical romp through the gross and gory world of campfire songs!

In this howlishly fun collection of campfire songs, little monsters everywhere will love singing along to their favorite campfire tunes which have been altered for optimal gross-out effect by the ghoulish Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by the Master of Creep, Gris Grimly.

Disgusting highlights include "If You're Scary and You Know It," "99 Bottles of Blood on the Wall," and the classic in the making, "Do Your Guts Hang Low?" Gather your creepy, crawly friends and get ready to slither and slink and howl and stink!

Synopsis


In this howlishly fun collection of campfire songs, little monsters everywhere will love singing along to their favorite campfire tunes which have been altered for optimal gross-out effect by the ghoulish Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by the Master of Creep, Gris Grimly.
Disgusting highlights include "If You're Scary and You Know It," "99 Bottles of Blood on the Wall," and the classic in the making, "Do Your Guts Hang Low?" Gather your creepy, crawly friends and get ready to slither and slink and howl and stink!

Children's Literature

Gather the kids around the campfire to bellow out these rollicking and bone-tingly songs each sung to the tune of a familiar song. There is "Home on the Strange" where "the Boogie Men roam and the ghosts and the green goblins play" or how about "take me out to the graveyard, take me out to the tombs", and the rousing "if you're scary and you know it clap your paws/if you're scary and you know it, flap your jaws." The songs are suitably printed in white on black and the sepia-toned watercolors with their Tim Burton feel are filled with googly-eyed monsters, toothy, long-nosed bats, zombies, mummies, dripping cauldrons, and spooky graveyards. With its handsome design and layout (the type is aptly named House of Terror) and deliciously gross songs, libraries should buy multiple copies as they will fly off the shelves. Reviewer: Beverley Fahey

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Editorials

Children's Literature - Beverley Fahey

Gather the kids around the campfire to bellow out these rollicking and bone-tingly songs each sung to the tune of a familiar song. There is "Home on the Strange" where "the Boogie Men roam and the ghosts and the green goblins play" or how about "take me out to the graveyard, take me out to the tombs", and the rousing "if you're scary and you know it clap your paws/if you're scary and you know it, flap your jaws." The songs are suitably printed in white on black and the sepia-toned watercolors with their Tim Burton feel are filled with googly-eyed monsters, toothy, long-nosed bats, zombies, mummies, dripping cauldrons, and spooky graveyards. With its handsome design and layout (the type is aptly named House of Terror) and deliciously gross songs, libraries should buy multiple copies as they will fly off the shelves. Reviewer: Beverley Fahey

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4- Eighteen classic songs have been transformed here into versions that range from the silly to the slightly disgusting to the extremely gross. Such titles as "Take Me Out to the Graveyard," "Creepy, Creepy Little Jar," and "If You're Scary and You Know It, Clap Your Paws" are accompanied by watercolor and mixed-media illustrations, mainly in earth tones, that make the words seem even more revolting. Sung to the tune of "Oh My Darling, Clementine," "My Delicious Frankenstein" has lyrics like, "Oh, my crispy. Oh, my crunchy./Oh, my frosted Frankenstein./You're so yummy...in my tummy.../My delicious Frankenstein." The song is illustrated with a downtrodden-looking monster, complete with whipped cream and a cherry atop his head. He's portrayed against a red-and-white-check tablecloth and opposite a woman licking her lips and brandishing a carving knife and fork. Children will recognize all the songs parodied here, making them easy to sing. These selections may not have quite the inventiveness or creativity of some of Alan Katz and David Catrow's collections, notably Where Did They Hide My Presents? (S & S, 2005), but they certainly have appeal.-Jane Marino, Bronxville Public Library, NY

Kirkus Reviews

There's no printed music but few readers will feel the lack, as DiPucchio expertly recasts 18 chestnuts into rousingly icky versions that practically sing themselves. Introducing such soon-to-be-favorites as "Do Your Guts Hang Low?" "99 Bottles of Blood on the Wall" and the genuinely revolting "Blow, Blow, Blow Your Nose," this collection makes Judy Sierra's Monster Goose (2001) and even Alan Katz's takeoffs seem positively restrained. As is his wont, Grimly spatters his dark scenes with unidentifiable substances and populates them with grotesquely misshapen creatures-who, thankfully, look down or aside rather than directly out at viewers. Children who enjoy being creeped out won't be able to get enough: "Home, home of the strange, / where the feared and the freaks come to play. / Where the stench in the air / comes from goon underwear / and the kids are all pasty and gray." All together now. (Poetry. 8-12)

Book Details

Published
May 1, 2008
Publisher
Scholastic, Inc.
Pages
40
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780439584012

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