Tag Archives: humor

Pop’s Top 5: Gross Giggles

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cockroach pizza boxLet’s face facts: most kids (and even some adults!) find gross things funny. They like fart jokes, quips about underwear, burps, bugs, and just saying the word “poop” can send the conversation into a 15 minute spiral. Well, kids…this post is for you. We did a round up of story time projects that involve a wee bit of gross humor. May it bring you giggles and joy!

#1 ULTRA-BRIGHT UNDIES

illuminating underwear

It took a over decade and 450 story times, but we finally offered an underpants story hour, complete with a customized string light project. Inspired by the magnificent book Creepy Pair of Underwear! Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown, the team who also brought us super creepy carrot fun.

#2 WHALE-SIZED POOPER SCOOPER

While this book, I Won a What?, was ultimately about taking care of a pet whale, if you watch the video in the post, you’ll see that whale care includes taking them on walk, bathing them, and yes…scooping up pom pom poop.

#3 ROACH RACER

cockroach pizza box

A pizza box, magnets, drinking straws, and rubber roaches were the winning combination at To Be Continued, our chapter book story time for kids ages 6-8. We read the most excellent Measle and the Wrathmonk, one of my son’s favorites books back in the day!

#4 MAMMOTH UNDIES

mammoth haircut

Returning once again to underpants, we have the truly hilarious book Hot Hot Hot in which woolly mammoths Oscar and Arabella try to beat the heat. The craft project was a decorative underwear reveal on a slightly alarmed mammoth.

#5 SKUNK SPRAY

back of skunk

The skunk is perhaps the most infamous creature in the animal world, with a startle reflex that just keeps giving. We read Please Don’t Upset P.U. Zorilla and then story time officers made deputy skunks with the unique capacity to spray plastic bags. And yes, we do have a training video.

HONORABLE MENTION: MEDIEVAL MUCKRAKERS

best event sign ever

While not technically a story time project, we couldn’t end this post without including our grossest, most popular event sign to date. It completely stole the show at a 2012 Robin Hood event. Click here to read about yuck-worthy Medieval jobs, and if you need some help unseeing it, please enjoy this complimentary copy of Medieval Vogue, which was also featured at the event.

Tweaked Titles

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bookscape fireplace 3Recently, a visitor to our Bookscape Gallery stopped by our desks, laughing. He was delighted to have discovered one of our library’s little secrets – shelves of wooden books, carved with very special titles! We would love to share some of those with you today, but first, a little history…

Our current gallery was conceptualized in 2002 by James Bradberry, a Pennsylvania architect who has done multiple projects at Princeton University. Bradberry’s drawings were brought to life by artist and designer Judson Beaumont of Straight Line Designs. During the creative process, the idea of stocking the shelves with humorous wooden books was born, and the Cotsen staff was more than up to the challenge of brainstorming titles for them!

The book titles are a mix of puns, parody, and wordplay. Some have attributed authors, and some do not. They are scattered throughout the gallery for visitors to browse and enjoy. There is one very special giant book as well – the “Hearth of Darkness” over our faux fireplace has a space carved inside it that is PERFECT for housing Beatrix Potter books.

Below is an incomplete list of our tweaked titles (come visit us and see more!):

Feline in the Fedora
H. Granger, Fly Through Your Owls
Goldilocks: My Story
Dare to Be Different by U. Duckling
I, Playtypus
Effective Communication by Amelia Bedelia
Run Toto Run!
Bone Appetit by Mother Hubbard
The Poky Puppy Digs Deeper
Stepping Out of Line by Madeline
The Antarctic Local by Chris Van Allaboard
Ramona Quimby, Age 80
The Case of the Missing Button by Corduroy
Smell the Roses: Advice from the Bull Pen by Ferdinand
Strega No-No
Richard’s Scariest Word Book Ever

Sadly, the grand creator of this library, Jusdon Beaumont, passed away in 2020. If you’re interested in learning more about his life and work, Cotsen’s curator Andrea Immel penned a beautiful tribute to him on the curatorial blog. You’re in our hearts Jud!

Pop’s Top 10: Fabulous Fails

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acid drops 2

We make (and get) ourselves into a lot of messes here at Pop Goes the Page, and today we are honoring all those…uh…valuable learning experiences by counting down Pop’s Top 10 fails, misfires, and whoopsies!

#1 GINORMOUS FORTUNE COOKIE

cookie progress 2Our first fail comes from the kitchen of Katie, where a fortune cookie recipe test took a turn for the huge. Mis-measuring the batter resulted in a giant mega cookie that appears to be smirking at all the other cookies.

#2 UNFOCUSED LAPIN

blurry flashlight bunny 5ALWAYS test your light source. Not all beams are created equal! As we quickly discovered when our oatmeal container projector resulted in an unfocused, blobby bunny.

#3 PANTS BEWARE

deflated messLearned this one the hard way – and so did our carpets and clothing. Erasable chalkboard ink enthusiastically liberates itself from deflated balloons. And it makes a mess. A permanent MESS. Oooooo such a mess.

#4 DASHING DOGS 

more puppy post 1It took SIX tries to get Katie’s pup Finley to simply walk down the hallway with a mailbox strapped to his back. And the one time it worked? Watch the video closely, because a piece of mailbox literally breaks off in transit and drops to the floor! Argh!

#5 WATER WORKS

full tin foil sheetOur program at a local community pool was going swimmingly, until the entire waterway leaked like mad and beached all the boats. Yes, in hindsight we should have reinforced the seams of the tin foil with packing tape…but ah well!

#6 TODDLER TORNADO

teddy bear picnic afterWhat started as a lovely bucolic picnic scene quickly devolved into chaos at a baby and toddler program. The hardest hit was a lovely contact paper river. We foolishly thought the adhesive would anchor it a little. But no. It lasted about 5 minutes before being twisted and crunched into a slouching shadow of its former self.

#7 THE FAMOUS FUDGE INCIDENT

foojYes. That is fudge in a CUP. One of Pop’s most classic fails, Katie learned how woefully temperamental fudge making can be. However! It should be noted that she made a triumphant comeback a few years later, with the assistance of Toni & Slade Morrison’s Peeny Butter Fudge recipe!

#8 CAUGHT PINK-HANDED

Otherwise know as the day I turned my bathtub and hand pink. It was supposed to be a simple project, but the art materials juuuuuust weren’t cooperating. But in my defense, who knew cellophane could be so vengeful?

#9 WHEN CANDY GOES BAD

dr. dana taste tests burned acid drop

Another classic from the kitchen of Katie. Long story short, the Harry Potter acid drops recipe went horribly wrong and turned black. The second batch welded your teeth shut. I insisted on trying both batches, and, well, a picture speaks a thousand words.

#10 NOT TO BURST YOUR BALLOON…

balloon progressWhile doing research for a Willy Wonka escape room, I attempted to turn myself into a giant blueberry by shimmying into a 6ft latex balloon that would snap around my neck. The process also required the use of a leaf blower. How could this scenario possibly go wrong???