A parody of a well-known children’s book may, at first, seem designed to appeal more to adults who have been subjected to hundreds of repeated readings at the behest of a sleepy three-year-old. Gan Golan’s Goodnight Bush put a political spin on the bedtime story, heralding the end of the Bush administration, while Kate Nelligan’s Pat the Husband found humor in spousal relationships. However, one recent parody found its place with kids as well: Goodnight Goon, a monster-infused parody of the Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd classic Goodnight Moon, has sold more than 100,000 copies since its publication in 2008. But Goodnight Moon is by no means the only classic ripe for child-sized parody.
In August, Michael Rex will deliver The Runaway Mummy (Putnam), a “petrifying” parody of another Brown/Hurd tale, The Runaway Bunny. In Rex’s version, a “rotten” young mummy imagines all the horrible creatures he could become to escape his mother’s powerful love. senior editor Tim Travaglini, who worked with Rex on both parodies, believes that The Runaway Bunny lends itself to reinterpretation. “It was a strong book,” he says, “but we could still have fun with it.”
Also getting the monster parody treatment this fall is the Maurice Sendak classic, Where the Wild Things Are, which already came chock full of monsters. Where the Mild Things Are, published by Simon & Schuster and written by “Maurice Send-up,” with illustrations by Bonnie Leick, will hit shelves in September. Justin Chanda, v-p and publisher of S&S Books for Young Readers, says that he and his editorial staff were discussing future projects when the topic of the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are movie came up. “We realized that everyone had a different memory of the book,” says Chanda. “We saw what happened with Goodnight Goon, and we started to think, ‘Should we consider doing a parody?’ ” After finding a writer for the project, Chanda says that the project moved very quickly, with the entire process taking around three months.
While many of the references in the books may tickle parents’ funnybones, both Travaglini and Chanda believe that their books appeal, first and foremost, to children, whether or not they are familiar with the original books. “The Runaway Mummy is 100% meant to be enjoyed without any frame of reference,” says Travaglini. “Michael [Rex] has been in schools, reading to kindergarteners, and there’s no doubt that a child’s sense of humor doesn’t become sophisticated until later. But they laugh out loud. They don’t like it because it’s a parody. They respond to the adorableness of it.”
Dara La Porte, manager of the children and teen department at the Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., agrees. “My instinct is that the older kids, maybe age six to eight, get the parody,” she says. “When the younger kids go for Goodnight Goon, it’s the attractiveness of the cover that pulls them in.” Pat Byrne, a bookseller at Book Ends in Winchester, Mass., however, feels that parodies such as Goodnight Goon are “almost an adult idea,” and believes that “younger kids just want the real thing.”
How close to stick to that “real thing” was an issue that both editors faced. “The important thing,” says Chanda, “was that the book was recognizable, in both pacing and tone, to the original.” Both Travaglini and Chanda insist that there was no intent to make fun of the original books with their respective parodies.
However, with any parody, there are always various legal issues that may arise. “The rules are very defined in terms of parody,” says Chanda, “and we were very sure to follow those rules.” Travaglini describes the intense scrutiny by Putnam’s legal department as an almost “painful process.” He goes on to say that Putnam has “put a lot of thought into the legal issues, and we maintain that these books are defensible as Fair Use parodies.”
Legal issues aside, Chanda believes that the future of this niche market is promising, but ultimately limited. “There are a finite number of books that can be parodied,” he says. “A book needs to have achieved legendary status, and eventually we’re going to run out of those books.”
Travaglini believes that success breeds success, and that Goodnight Goon has encouraged the publication of more books in the genre. “But eventually water will find its own level,” he says. “More people are taking a shot at it, but it has to be done right, or it won’t go the distance.”
