"It's only a joke book! It's not real literature after all... we'll take two!"
I'm afraid that this book does not have a very nice title, but then this isn't meant to be a nice book! It's a revolting rhyme selection. Of course, if you're a revolting adult then this is for you, too! (Most adults are revolting - you can read about their horrible habits in this book!)
As with my first collection, Always Eat Your Bogies, one of the reasons for writing this third book was to try and persuade reluctant readers to pick up a poetry selection. The same thinking was behind my second, Bottling Burps for Grandma. And so we carry on this tradition with Dad's Exploding Underpants.
As always, there will be some who'll argue that burps and bogies are not suitable subjects for poetry. Of course, if I'd called this a joke book then, just perhaps, the use of such revolting subject matter might be considered as more acceptable. Indeed, the opening quotation comes from a lady I met recently at a book signing. She was quite unprepared to buy Always Eat Your Bogies. However, when I suggested that children often viewed the poems merely as 'jokes', she smiled and bought two copies, reassured that I hadn't offended the sacred world of 'real' poetry. So, if my poems offend, then just imagine this as a joke book!
If you're still not convinced then I've always argued that it's better to have a child reading about bogies and burps than having that child not reading at all. Anyway, if a child has enjoyed one book, then there is every chance that he/she will want then to pick up another and another.
One last thing - this book is also about having fun! After all, reading should be FUN!
Andrew Collett
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