I see that Bad Little Children's Books has been sent to bed without supper. No loss, even if I don't share the outrage. There are some memes that should just stay memes, and children's-book-cover parodies have been racing around since even before Buzzfeed was a thing. The problem with this collection in particular is there is almost zero wit; unlike my favorite example (from the internet), at left, which marries a real book cover with a suggestive but plausible new title, this collection just photoshops together various bits from various retro-looking images and slaps on a crude title. I mean, I guess, there probably is an old book cover with a dog dancing in front of a doghouse, but to call it "Fido Finds a Dildo," place a fake penis in the dog's mouth, and stick a little label saying "PenisguinHouse" in the corner is just juvenile in all the ways you don't want. If you want people to laugh, don't show your work.

It is emblematic of our era that the objections have centered on two images: one of a burka-clad little girl carrying an apparent bomb, and another of a group of stereotyped Indians giving a child a smallpox-infected blanket. Certainly these two are working overtime to be offensive, and they succeed. But it's worth thinking about why we get upset about these, and, not say, "The Blind Child's Picture Dictionary" or "My First Little Boob Job" or "Parkinson's: How to Know if Your Bobblehead Doll Has the Disease." There are a lot of faux-covers referencing pedophilia, too. Do we not feel equal outrage at jokes about disability or child abuse as we do at jokes that rely on social identities? There are also jokes (one each) about Jews and Asians; none about African Americans or Hispanics. So not an equal-opportunity offender, this book. it looks like Abrams gambled on what it could get away with and lost.

Anyone else remember Blanche Knott's Truly Tasteless Jokes (1982)? The present book is mild compared to that one, which inspired outrage but also countless sequels and imitators. I guess that won't happen here.