Fictive Books for Young People
Fictive Books for Young People
Imaginary books for young people almost always appear in books for young people, although there are occasional exceptions that can be of intense interest, because the contrast of grown-up concerns with the innocence of childhood can produce the most dramatic of situations and conflicts.
The Songs of the Jabberwock
ANONYMOUS
Looking-Glass: n.p., n.d.
First mentioned in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There.
There was a book lying near Alice on the table, and while she sat watching the White King ... she turned over the leaves, to find some part that she could read, “—for it’s all in some language I don’t know,” she said to herself. It was like this:
YKCOWREBBAJ
sevot yhtils eht dna, gillirb sawT’
ebaw eht ni elbmig dna eryg diD
,sevogorob eht erew ysmim llA
.ebargtuo shtar emom eht dnA
The Octarine Fairy Book
ANDREW LANG
London: Longman, Green, & Co., 1889.
First mentioned in Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic.
The scarcest of the books of stories for children published by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne, this book, the little-known thirteenth in the series, was written during the Langs’ lengthy sojourn in the Agatean Empire. It is the one named for the trans-visual color Octarine, the color of magic, said to be visible only to wizards and cats.
The favorite childhood book of Twoflower. Unidentified iridescent binding.
A Plea for the Domestication of the Unicorn
ANONYMOUS
n.l.: n.p., n.d.
First mentioned in Aubrey Beardsley’s Under the Hill (itself imaginary, an unfinished work).
This pamphlet was discovered by the Abbé Fanfreluche “in Helen’s library,” during a visit to Venusberg. A passionate exhortation for attention to the plight of the unicorn and its impending extinction. The unknown author makes the case for domestication as the only practical solution for the protection of the animal, noting that the last recorded sighting was by Dr. Olfert Dapper, who saw one in the north woods of Maine in 1673.
The Chums of Chance at Krakatoa
Capt. QUINCY ADAMS
New York: Appleton, 1912.
Initial reference in Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day.
The Chums of Chance are a troop of five air scouts (and a dog) who, through their wide-ranging adventures, have been immortalized in a series of 19th century boys’ books. The Chums of Chance at Krakatoa is the story of the boys’ adventure in (well, over) the Sunda Strait, west of Java, in the year 1883. Other books in the series include the infamous The Chums of Chance Nearly Crash into the Kremlin.
Rules and Traffic Regulations which may Not Be Bent or Broken
ANONYMOUS
Dictionopolis: n.p., n.d.
First mentioned in Norman Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth.
A driver’s handbook, containing the rules of the road, as applicable in both Dictionopolis and Digitopolis. The more unusual regulations are explained with helpful examples, and this edition includes a set of sample tests to help the student qualify for a driver’s permit valid in both cities.
A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer: A Propædeutic Enchiridion.
JOHN PERCIVAL HACKWORTH
Privately produced (for A.C.-S. Finkle-McGraw), n.d.
Mentioned in Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age.
A complete and highly empowering interactive education built into a custom book. Intended to provide guidance exclusively for the daughter of an upper-class family in a dystopian future, this copy is known to have fallen into the hands of a déclassée young woman who should not have been aware of its existence. The book represents a disruptive potential in the “wrong” hands.
One of the three copies compiled from the Runcible Version 1.0.
The Barring-Gaffner of Bagnialto
KILGORE TROUT
New York: Delacorte, 1972.
First mentioned in Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions.
On the planet Bagnialto, the Barring-Gaffner was an official charged with spinning the wheel of fortune, the Barring, one day each year, to determine the aesthetic precedence of all the artwork produced on the planet during the preceding twelve-month. The winning artist was awarded a billion dollars, and all the other works were destroyed in a massive bonfire.
This tradition allowed the citizens to know immediately what they should and should not like.