OOPS
Mercer Mayer ~ Dial Books, 1977
I'm going to summon the ghost of the short-lived blog by one of my favorite readers... a blog that happens to be silent at the moment but is sure to be resurrected any second now. At least I know there's one dad out there who's after my Mercer Mayer-filled heart. Or maybe it's that I'm after his Mercer Mayers, because according to the pictures he's put up on Amazon and this blog post here, he's got a ton I want! So as a nod to what has to be the best collection of Mayer books short of Mayer himself, take OOPS, one in a series of three almost wordless one-word books. Not the first, because unfortunately Ah-Choo still eludes me, but at least I have this one and it's other triplet Hiccup.
Here we see a lady Hippo on a trip into town and all the things that happen when you set a hippo loose in a china shop, including setting a hippo loose in a china shop! Just tickles me silly, and thankfully my boy has the itch too. Everything vintage Mercer Mayer rocks in our house. And who knows, maybe Antmusic will take pity on me, and cough (tee-hee) up his copy of Ah-Choo, or at the very least do a Great Readers Write on it. Ya'll almost forgot about those didn't you?
Also by:Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp
One Monster After Another
Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-A-Zoo
Me and My Flying Machine
Beauty and the Beast
A Special Trick
Bubble Bubble
Little Monster at Work
One Frog Too Many
How the Trollusk Got His Hat
AH-CHOO
The Bird of Time
9 comments:
A+ I LOVE this trio of books (Oops, Hiccup, Achoo)! Mercer Mayer did some awesome wordless stuff because his art in the 70s communicates so much. I recently found a few amazing full page works he did in some magazines that I haven't added to Wikipedia yet.
...and I will Keep my eye out for an extra copy of "Ah-choo." I have run across it before at the local thrift shops (!!).
And, yes, my house has shelves (!) dedicated to Mercer Mayer books (including the ones he illustrated for other people). I am only missing aorund 11 of the hundreds that he has released (one of which I am convinced does NOT exist), and I am always looking for hardcover versions of my paperbacks too.
Yes, I don't blog often. My work and family life have put a screeeeaching halt to a lotof things... BUT I WANT TO, and I WILL.
Oh! Do tell on the one you think doesn't exist! Curious...
RE: The one that I have never seen hide nor hair of. I believe it is an activity book from the early 1980s... kind of like the 1978 "Little Monster: You Can Make It Book." It has two titles:
"Professor Wormbog's Crazy Cut-Ups" (ISBN 0-307-15807-1 & 9780307158079, a Golden Books hardcover that was $3.95 in 10/1980, 144 pages, according to some sites and book research)
"Professor Wormbog's Cut It, Glue It, Tape It, Do It" (SAME ISBN 0-307-15807-1, Golden Books, 1980, $3.95, but this one is usually listed as a paperback).
These COULD be two different books... but I THINK it might be one of those books that has a subtitle, like:
"Professor Wormbog's Crazy Cut-Ups: Cut It, Glue It, Tape It, Do It."
BUT, I can't come to that conclusion until I actually SEE this book. Ha ha. For all I know, it might be a re-titled version of the "Little Monster: You Can Make It Book." Although, I wouldn't think that Professor Wormbog would be a big selling point in 1980.
The $3.95 price tag makes me think this/these is/are paperback(s). The paperback "Little Monster You Can Make It" book has 144 pages also.
I found both titles in some old "Books in Print" books and "Something about the Author" books from a year or two ago when I was researching for the Bibliography of Mercer Mayer page that I've worked so hard on over the years (on Wikipedia). "Professor Wormbog's Crazy Cut-Ups" even has an Amazon entry.
I watch eBay for it/them all the time, and I've never seen it/them.
I sent Mercer Mayer an e-mail once about this and a bunch of other questions, and he responded... just not about the existence "Professor Wormbog's Crazy Cut-Ups: Cut It, Glue It, Tape It, Do It." Crub!
IF ANYONE has it/them, PLEASE post a picture of the cover somewhere so I can see what I'm missing and know that is exists. Ha ha ha.
dude, you are hardcore. more power to you!
When I love something, I just research the crub out of it. HA ha. Yes, Mercer Mayer is a big obsession for me, and I still discover new things once in awhile. After years of collecting, I didn't even know about him illustrating "Margaret's Birthday" by Jan Wahl until I ran across it last year and said, "OH MY GOODNESS!!!"
Yes, I am hardcore, but I want to share my enthusiasm and research with all Mercer Mayer fans. So, I update pictures and book information on Amazon, and his Wiki bibliography when I am moved to do so. I am sure that I will discover more from him in the future. I really wish I knew all the 60s and 70s magazine and/or advertisment work he has done.
Someday, I'd love to have a big book od Mercer Mayer art... a lot like the two Maurice Sendak (another obsession) art collections that are out there ("The Art Of Maurice Sendak" from 1980 and "The Art Of Maurice Sendak: From 1980 to the Present" from 2003), or a book like "Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation" by Gregory Maguire. Of course, for this to happen, I'd probably have to write it myself. Ha ha ha.
Why not? Better you than someone else. Seriously.
Seeing these illustrations brought to mind a book I loved as a kid, and sure enough it is also from Mercer Mayer -- What Do You Do With A Kangaroo?
Thanks for the memories!
By the way... I BLOGGED! It isn't Ah-Choo (sorry), but it is Mercer Mayer!
"Just for You: A 35 Year Anniversary, Plus: The Editing of Mercer Mayer part 1"
http://bookembob.blogspot.com/2010/02/just-for-you-35-year-anniversary-plus.html
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