Funds for Bookworm are provided in part by Lannin Foundation.

You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed,

or you are the only animal,

who can think, who can reason, who can read?

Hello and welcome to Bookworm.

I'm Michael Silverblatt, and today I'm taping at the Museum of Television and Radio.

I have the great pleasure of having two wonderful friends with me, Art Spiegelman and Francois Moly.

We've been friends because we've been doing shows together and because I'm an admirer of their work.

And the most recent thing they've done is strange stories for strange kids.

It's the second little lit collection. The first came out last year, which was fairy tales,

and now they're into the Otter Territories. Strange Stories for Strange Kids is published by Harper Collins.

It's a Joanne Kotler book.

And I wanted to begin, because I remember, I get to talk to these guys on my off hours.

I remember that the first version of the cover had a monster that was perhaps

too frightening for the kids, even the strange ones, that the book was meant to attract. And you

were moving into more unusual, stranger territory here. The book, pardon my going on like this, contains even a cartoon by Paul

Oster, our metaphysical novelist of America. What were your concerns in terms of the creepy zone?

Well, the first drawing, which was by Charles Burns, who's probably one of the

creepiest, no, no, he's a wonderful guy, one of the creepiest, one of the creators of the

most creepy possible atmospheres in cartoon illustration. And it seemed, on the one hand,

a perfect choice. we have a relationship that

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