More on Childhood Reading

I read a lot of dark things as a kid. This was largely because my mother, who is English, felt that it was important for me to read everything that she read growing up. I believe that most of what she read had also been read by her mother as a child. All of this translates into some very dark, very Victorian, reading as a child. I don't believe a lot of my 1970s contemporaries read The Water Babies back in elementary school, like I did.

My parents recently offloaded my childhood books back onto me (after keeping them in storage for an eternity), and I was quite amazed by not only the overall morbidness of the collection but my delight in re-reading some of my favorites. (Don't worry, The Water Babies was NOT a favorite.)

One book that I adored was Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee, which is not Victorian nor British, but a book of Canadian poems first published the 1960s. The illustrations in my edition (by Frank Newfeld) are fantastic and capture the mood and sentiment of the poetry perfectly.

My favorite poem from that book is In Kamloops which is accompanied by a fantastic picture of a diabolical chef wielding a knife and a grouping of severed body parts all neatly organized on a series of shelves alongside an assortment of condiments. In case you're not familiar with the poem, here it is:

In Kamloops
I'll eat your boots.

In the Gatineaus
I'll eat your toes.

In Napanee
I'll eat your knee.

In Winnipeg
I'll eat your leg.

In Charlottetown
I'll eat your gown.

In Crysler's Farm
I'll eat your arm.

In Aklavik
I'll eat your neck.

In Red Deer
I'll eat your ear.

In Trois Rivieres
I'll eat your hair.

In Kitimat
I'll eat your hat.

And I'll eat your nose
And I'll eat your toes
In Medicine Hat and Moose Jaw.