A few naughty poetry collections
These two aren't particularly new, but they are vastly entertaining, each in their own way.
First up, Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes:
In Revolting Rhymes, Roald Dahl presents us with fractured and semi-frightening versions of well-known fairytales. Dahl presents us with rhyming verse to explain the "real" story of Cinderella (in which the Prince proves to be a homicidal maniac), Jack and the Beanstalk (the moral of the story? "take a bath"), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (actually, seven ex-jockeys with a betting habit), Goldilocks and the Three Bears (about Goldie's breaking and entering), Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf (in which Red goes a-hunting), and the Three Little Pigs (in which Red goes a-hunting again). Some of the words used dabble in the four-letter variety of the naughty type (not of the "George Carlin dirty words" type, but still, "hell" and "slut" and others make an appearance), and so I'd give this one a PG-13 rating, but I wouldn't go as far as some of the folks who'd like it banned and/or relegated to the adult section. I consider it a "teachable moment" instead.
Next up, for an older crowd, some truly revolting rhyme:
If you like slightly naughty, decidedly macabre poems (and who doesn't?), check out Now We Are Sick: An Anthology of Nasty Verse, edited by Neil Gaiman and Stephen Jones, with illustrations by Andrew Smith and Clive Barker. The poems are from thirty of the world's best-known sci-fi, fantasy and horror writers. Most of them are somewhat funny (in a very black-humor sort of way). Many of them could be shared with upper elementary or middle school children, like Galad Elflandsson's poem The Good Ship Revenger or Something Came Out of the Toilet by Harriet Adam Knight or the delightful Things that Go Bump in the Night by Ian Pemble or even Colin Greenland's You're Deceased, Father William (a must-read for any Lewis Carroll fans), but at least a handful are truly "adults only" (most notably those in the chapter entitled "Adults Only").
First up, Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes:
In Revolting Rhymes, Roald Dahl presents us with fractured and semi-frightening versions of well-known fairytales. Dahl presents us with rhyming verse to explain the "real" story of Cinderella (in which the Prince proves to be a homicidal maniac), Jack and the Beanstalk (the moral of the story? "take a bath"), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (actually, seven ex-jockeys with a betting habit), Goldilocks and the Three Bears (about Goldie's breaking and entering), Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf (in which Red goes a-hunting), and the Three Little Pigs (in which Red goes a-hunting again). Some of the words used dabble in the four-letter variety of the naughty type (not of the "George Carlin dirty words" type, but still, "hell" and "slut" and others make an appearance), and so I'd give this one a PG-13 rating, but I wouldn't go as far as some of the folks who'd like it banned and/or relegated to the adult section. I consider it a "teachable moment" instead.
Next up, for an older crowd, some truly revolting rhyme:
If you like slightly naughty, decidedly macabre poems (and who doesn't?), check out Now We Are Sick: An Anthology of Nasty Verse, edited by Neil Gaiman and Stephen Jones, with illustrations by Andrew Smith and Clive Barker. The poems are from thirty of the world's best-known sci-fi, fantasy and horror writers. Most of them are somewhat funny (in a very black-humor sort of way). Many of them could be shared with upper elementary or middle school children, like Galad Elflandsson's poem The Good Ship Revenger or Something Came Out of the Toilet by Harriet Adam Knight or the delightful Things that Go Bump in the Night by Ian Pemble or even Colin Greenland's You're Deceased, Father William (a must-read for any Lewis Carroll fans), but at least a handful are truly "adults only" (most notably those in the chapter entitled "Adults Only").