''The Pocket Book of Boners'' is a book illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel (

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' The Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

. In 1941, Readers' League of America compiled these four books and published the ''Pocket Book of Boners''.Hansen, Harry (7 August 1941)
Craze for Boners Stages Comeback in Recent Book
''The Pittsburgh Press'' (p. 29) It was one of the bestselling

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...

books of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, with 1.34 million copies in print by 1945. "The Pocket Book of ___" was the proprietary title cliché of the publisher. Gary K. Wolfe, "Evaporating Genre. Strategies of Dissolution in the Postmoder Fantastic", In: ''Edging Into the Future Science Fiction and Contemporary Cultural Transformation'', 2002
p. 12
/ref> ''The Pocket Book of Boners'' contains 22 illustrations of

boner Boner may refer to: People with the name * Boner (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media * Boner Records, a California-based independent label * Boner Stabone, a recurring character on the TV series ''Growing Pains'' * ''Boner's Ark'', a comic ...

s (howlers, blunders), drawn by Dr. Seuss. The rest of the volume consists of short jokes and humorous observations with most being no more than four lines long. It is notable for being an early example of Dr. Seuss' distinct illustration style. All boners in the book are anonymous. Harry Hansen writes that "presumably these lines come out of the mouths of

babe Babe or babes may refer to: * Babe, a term of endearment * A newborn baby * An attractive (especially female) person People Nickname * Babe Adams (1882–1968), American Major League Baseball pitcher * Babe Barna (1917–1972), American Maj ...

s". Gary K. Wolfe concludes that these are humorous schoolboy mistakes. Some examples: * "

King James I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

wrote

the Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

". * "A man who marries twice commits bigotry". (

bigamy In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

) * "A virgin forest is a forest in which the hand of man has never set foot".

Boners series

The first book was released in February 1931. A short positive review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described Dr. Seuss's illustrations as "hilarious".(March 1, 1931)
Schoolboy Wisdom
''

'' The pseudonym "Alexander Abingdon" was used as the author of the series, which was originally released in order as follows. * ''Boners'' (102 p.) (copyright February 7, 1931) (illustrated by Dr. Seuss) * ''More Boners'' (copyright April 13, 1931) (illustrated by Dr. Seuss) * ''Still More Boners'' (copyright August 4, 1931) (illustrated by

Virginia Huget Virginia Clark (December 22, 1899 – June 27, 1991), better known as Virginia Huget, was a prolific and versatile American comic strip artist and writer. She is known for her comic strips depicting flappers and for broadening the flapper image b ...

) * ''Prize Boners for 1932'' (copyright March 4, 1932) (illustrated by Virginia Huget).Catalog of Copyright Entries. New Series: 1931, Part 1
2375 (U.S. Library of Congress)Catalog of Copyright Entries. New Series: 1932, Part 1
p. 1207 (U.S. Library of Congress) Many compilations of ''Boners'' content were subsequently released, including ''The Omnibus Boners'' (1931), ''The 2nd Boners Omnibus'' (1938) (pictures by Galdone),Catalog of Copyright Entries. New Series: 1938-1939, Part 1
p. 519 and ''Bigger & Better Boners'' (1952).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pocket Book Of Boners Humour Books by Dr. Seuss 1931 books Viking Press books