I was going to rant here about our ill-conceived, often hypocritical efforts to "protect" our children and censor their reading materials, but I'll save that for another day. Who thought this was a good idea? I'm incensed, especially for all the kids who might pick up this book expecting to have the bejeebers scared out of them and wind up merely bored or slightly amused. Without Gammell's drawings, this collection loses its bloody, beating heart and is barely worth the paper it's printed on. You don't mess with perfection and genius. The reason the original 1981 edition became an instant classic and a frequently challenged book in schools and libraries was for Stephen Gammell's ghoulish and nightmarish artwork. To say that it's been sanitized for safe consumption is an understatement. My edition is the 2010 "updated" version published by Harper Collins with new illustrations by Brett Helquist. I'm not giving any stars here, only a warning: beware which edition of this collection you choose, for if you choose unwisely, you will be sorely ripped off in more ways than one.
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