''The Silly Book'' is a children's book by

Stoo Hample Stuart E. Hample (January 6, 1926 – September 19, 2010), also known as Stoo Hample, was an American children's book author, performer, playwright and cartoonist who sometimes used the pseudonyms Joe Marthen and Turner Brown, Jr. He is best known ...

, first published in 1961 and reissued in 2004. It includes silly songs, silly names to call people and things, silly recipes, silly poems, silly things to say, and "silly nothings". Hample's first book, it was originally edited by

Ursula Nordstrom Ursula Nordstrom (February 2, 1910 – October 11, 1988) was publisher and editor-in-chief of juvenile books at Harper & Row from 1940 to 1973. She is credited with presiding over a transformation in children's literature in which morality tales ...

."Children's review: The Silly Book"
''

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'', August 2, 2004. It has been described as "a classic pastiche of poems, songs, jokes, drawings and goofy remarks", as a book that "defies categorization","Life Guide: Children's Books", ''Life'' magazine, November 17, 1961, p. 23
Excerpts available
at

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. and as "the literary equivalent of a child's giggle fit" and "a humor reference point for countless knee-high baby boomers." At the starting page, it shows two of the main characters, Boodleheimer and the

Easter Bunny The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit—sometimes dressed with clothes—bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" orig ...

(although he looks more like a worm), and is later changed to

Mother Goose The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. As a character, she appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as a nursery rhyme. This, howeve ...

. It also has a boy and a girl as the main characters, whose names are J.B. and Louise. The book also inspired an LP called '' The Silly Record''. In 2010, a new edition of ''The Silly Book'' was packaged with the first-ever release of The Silly Record on CD.

Characters

*Boodleheimer, A white cat-like creature with a red nose, grey mustaches and tail (a bit of hair) and six toes on each foot. *The

, an earthworm with eyes and a nose. *J.B., one of the main characters *Louise, one of the main characters *Tommy, a boy *Millie, appearing in "Silly Lily" and "Silly Millie" *Tillie, a lily owned by Millie *Max, a lily owned by J.B., named "Max" to show Millie "Tillie" is a silly name to call a lily *Mommy *Daddy *A leopard who is asked to pass the salt and peppard *An alligator asked if she would like to be J.B.'s palligator *The dentist *The gas station man *A growly tiger *A Moon Goon *A Very Very Very Very Old Lady (who is five and a half years old) *Chicken Face (a duck with a chicken mask), who says "Bow-Wow!" when The very very very very old lady tells him that it is raining *Six Chicks standing on sticks and balanced on bricks *Big Man that looks like a pig (but is not one because of his feet and says "Tweet, Tweet".) *Five cats and a dog, with all the cats but one thinking he's a cat and the dog thinking it's silly *A different Mommy (eating a popsicle) *A different Daddy (eating a Momsicle) *A chair combing his hair *A couch that's a grouch *A giraffe with a turtle-neck sweater *A turtle with a giraffe-neck sweater *A teddy bear who is fed bread with frozen chocolate syrup and spaghetti *A Silly Something appearing in "Silly Nothings" * Little Miss Muffet, who plops Fred over the spider *A pizza named Fred eaten by Little Miss Muffet *A spider who douses Fred with cider *

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. ...

, who falls off the wall and all the king's horses and all the king's men have scrambled eggs *Butterfly *A Bunny, saying that the book is sally rather than silly, which Boodleheimer had said *Sally, pointing out that she's Sally to the bunny, who recognizes this with a smile

Publication data

*1961: *2004: *2010:

References