Corrupting the innocent

I have been a fan for a long time now of Ross Horsley's My First Dictionary. The concept is simple but wonderfully subversive. Horsley, a librarian, takes images from an old children's dictionary and gives them a whole new piece of text that is twisted and darkly funny. These sometimes disturbing (but always entertaining) images have been appearing for some time on Horsley's website - do take a look. I recommend either using the alphabetical listing down the side or starting with some of the older ones, as some of the best are in the early contributions.

However, for those who prefer to savour their reading on paper, there is now a book version, which I found even better to peruse than the website. Highly recommended if you aren't easily shocked and like dark humour. It's perhaps a badge of honour that at least one US bookshop has had requests from a couple of customers to have it removed from the shelves. It's that good.

You can see more about the book version of My First Dictionary at amazon.co.uk and at amazon.com

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