Gashlycrumb Tinies

An alphabet of children’s names; followed by the manner of their unfortunate death; with great illustrations of each.

I love this book. My six, 12 and 16 year olds love this book. I’m sure we all love it for the same reason.

Here’s A:

You can find the rest of the set here, but I urge you to buy it.

Edward Gorey has that rare gift of being able to both visualise words and articulate pictures. There’s an arm’s length of distance between him and the humdrum core of the everyday. I’m sure Lemony Snickett owes him a debt and from his work I see Stephen King and the genesis of a whole bunch of other American macabre wierdos.