27 April 2020 FUNNYBONES by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, Greenwillow, 1980, 32p., ISBN: 978-0-688-84238-3

“So the kids they dance and shake their bones”

-- Barlow/Weir “Throwing Stones” (1987)

“This is how the story begins.

On a dark dark hill

there was a dark dark town.

In the dark dark town

there was a dark dark street.

In the dark dark street

there was a dark dark house.

In the dark dark house 

there was a dark dark staircase.

Dow the dark dark staircase

there was a dark dark cellar.

And in the dark dark cellar…

...some skeletons lived.

There was a big skeleton, a little skeleton and a dog skeleton.”

FUNNYBONES is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2020. 

The big problem that occurs in FUNNYBONES is that while the skeleton dog is chasing a stick, it trips over a park bench, bumps into a tree, and becomes a pile of bones that the big skeleton and the little skeleton have to then reassemble. This takes them a number of tries to get it right, and the failed attempts as visualized are hilarious. 

Once they get things put back together properly, they need to find someone to scare. But, in the end, they only end up scaring one another.

This classic is a goofy, pint-sized dose of scariness with a memorable, repetitive pattern text.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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