Flora Children’s Books
Grandpa’s Witched-Up Christmas
Grandpa’s Ghost Stories was the final of Flora’s 17 children’s books. It was originally published by Atheneum in 1982, and Feral House issued the first reprint in 2018. The book picks up where Grandpa’s Ghost Stories (see below) left off; Grandpa tells another hair-raising tale—this time about how Santa Claus saved him and grandma from becoming Christmas dinner for three horrible, menacing witches. When Grandpa was a boy, a terrible thing happened the day before Christmas. While taking a shortcut through the woods, he met three fearsome witches. One, with sharp teeth and hair like an unmowed lawn, pointed her finger at him, squealed “Sha-zam!” and turned him into a snake. The second witch, who had no feet, turned him into a turkey buzzard. And the third witch—tall and warty—screamed, “Ta-pooty!” and changed him into a pig. What happens next? A twisty tale of pure imagination.
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Published by Feral House Books (November 2018)
Age range: 7 to 10 years
Format: 10″ x 7.5″ hardcover; 32 pages, two-color; ISBN: 1-62731-068-0
Grandpa’s Ghost Stories
Grandpa’s Ghost Stories, the 15th of Flora’s 17 children’s books, was originally published by Atheneum in 1978. Feral House issued the first reprint in 2017. Grandpa’s Ghost Stories is one of the most beloved and sought-after of Flora’s out-of-print titles. It’s also one of his most demonic. Unlike much children’s lit, this book contains no cute-and-cuddly fairyland fantasies. This is Flora at his most mischievous. The pages swarm with creepy monsters, dancing skeletons, dark caves, wart-nosed witches, hungry werewolves, and ghouls who dismember each other with axes. One story presents a TV program on Channel 4-1/2 called “Feeding Phantom Faces,” in which “a big, fat-bellied demon” shows viewers “how to make soup out of a dead elephant,” followed by a witch who teaches “how to fry baby toes and eyeballs and bake a knuckle-bone pie.” All in good fun, of course! Feral House edition includes an introduction by Flora historian/archivist Irwin Chusid (who talks about the book here).
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Published by Feral House Books (October 2017)
Age range: 4 to 8 years
Format: 10″ x 7.5″ hardcover; 34 pages, two-color; ISBN: 1-62731-052-5
The Day the Cow Sneezed
The Day the Cow Sneezed was Flora’s second children’s book. Originally published by Harcourt Brace in 1957, it was reprinted by Enchanted Lion in 2010. The story starts out with: “I bet your cow never sneezed a hole in the schoolhouse wall. Our cow did!” Thus begins a funny, fast-paced, tall tale for young readers. The fun mounts as absurdity cascades on absurdity, ending when a small boy learns that a “teeny-weeny error can grow into a whopping big mistake before you can say Ka-Chow!” With brilliantly colored, bold and original pictures and a sure use of words that sweep the reader along, Flora created a hilariously wise picture book that will bring delighted laughter to the young. The Wall Street Journal declared, “For the opposite of earnest uplift, consider the lively and zany illustrations in Flora’s reissued 1957 tall tale.”
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Published by Enchanted Lion Books (October 2010)
Age range: 4 to 8 years
Format: 11″ x 8″ hardcover; 48 pages, multi-color; ISBN: 1-59270-097-7
Kangaroo for Christmas
Kangaroo for Christmas was Flora’s fifth children’s book. Originally published by Harcourt Brace in 1962, it was reprinted by Enchanted Lion in 2011. The day before Christmas, Kathryn’s present from Uncle Dingo arrived in a big box. It was a lively kangaroo named Adelaide! Kathryn couldn’t wait to show grandma, so she hopped onto Adelaide’s back and off they went. But getting to Grandma’s proved more difficult than expected, when honking horns and screeching brakes frightened Adelaide into taking off on her own. In good Flora fashion, chaos and pure silliness ensue. When Kathryn and Adelaide finally arrive at Grandma’s house, a very cool and collected Grandma sees there’s nothing to be done but to get them home as swiftly as possible. A rumpus of a read, Kangaroo for Christmas is a merry Christmas tall tale full of witty illustrations that are sure to draw laughs and hoots of pleasure.
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Published by Enchanted Lion Books (September 2011)
Age range: 4 to 8 years
Format: 11-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ hardcover; 40 pages, multi-color; ISBN: 1-59270-113-2
A complete gallery of Flora’s children’s books is posted at JimFloraArt.com
A Guide to the James Flora Papers, 1955-1994 (Archives & Special Collections, U of Connecticut Libraries)
James Flora Papers (Children’s Literature Research Collections, U of Minnesota)
