Wish kids came with instructions? At least you can take heart—and have a laugh—in the knowledge that the little dears confound and amuse all of us. Nothing captures our rollicking relationship with them—and theirs with the adult world—quite like New Yorker cartoons. The magazine's brilliant cartoonists (a good number of whom are rumored to have never completely left childhood behind) lead us from the hospital nursery, through toddlerhood, into the school years and beyond-to that long-lasting challenge of being an adult with parents. Selected by Robert Mankoff, cartoon editor of The New Yorker , this collection brings together 126 great cartoons (from artists including George Booth, Roz Chast, Leo Cullum, William Hamilton, Gahan Wilson, Jack Ziegler, and many more). The introduction from the one-and-only Roz Chast gives us a riot of insight and delight-which, come to think of it, is not a bad description of childhood.
Robert Mankoff is an American cartoonist, editor, and author. He was the cartoon editor for The New Yorker for nearly twenty years. Before he succeeded Lee Lorenz as cartoon editor at The New Yorker, Mankoff was a New Yorker cartoonist for twenty years.
Pretty typical fare for The New Yorker: cartoons more clever than funny. These often rely on putting adult speech in word balloons pointing at children.
I had maybe one mental chuckle and one audible one.
I did enjoy adding the names of all the contributors to Goodreads and LibraryThing though . . . probably more than actually reading the book. Some folks might be bothered by how many times that's the basis for why I choose to read a particular book. ("Ooh, look at all those names!")
Published in 2001. It's weird to read this collection now and notice how practically everyone in every cartoon is white and upper-middle-class. Also hardly any of the women have jobs outside the home. There are some great cartoons, though, including ones by Roz Chast and the classic one with the punchline "I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it."
It’s no secret that I like New Yorker cartoons; this was one of the best volumes in their series of themed cartoons, a genuine five star production. I think Bob Mankoff being the editor always guarantees that a collection will be good, and Roz Chast’s introduction is great.