The Bad Child's Book of Beasts
Encyclopedia
The Bad Child's Book of Beasts is an 1896 children's book
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 written by Hilaire Belloc
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist...

. Humorously illustrated by Basil Temple Blackwood
Basil Temple Blackwood
Ian Basil Gawaine Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood styled Lord Basil Temple Blackwood, was a British lawyer, civil servant and book illustrator.-Early life:...

, the superficially naive verses give tongue-in-cheek advice to children. In the book, the animals tend to be sage-like, and the humans dull and self-satisfied. Within the first three months of its publication, The Bad Child's Book of Beasts sold 4000 copies.

Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas , nicknamed Bosie, was a British author, poet and translator, better known as the intimate friend and lover of the writer Oscar Wilde...

 accused Belloc of plagiarizing his work Tales with a Twist, which although published two years after The Bad Child's Book of Beasts was according to Douglas written before Belloc's work.

The illustrations have also drawn comparison to the works seen in Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone....

books.
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