Elbert's Bad Word by Audrey Wood, Don Wood - First Edition Children's Books - Vintage Child Book, Bedtime Stories, 1980s

First edition of Elbert's Bad Word by Audrey and Don Wood: Elbert learns good manners by substituting good words - "RATS AND BLUE BLAZES!" - for a very bad word.

Written by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Audrey and Don Wood. Stated first edition, first printing, 1988. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers.

"One afternoon at an elegant garden party, young Elbert heard a word he had never heard before.

"The word floated by like a small storm cloud. It was ugly and covered with dark, bristly hairs.

"With a swift flick of his wrist, Elbert snatched the word from the air and stuffed it into his back pocket.

"Forgetting about it, the boy went on his way. But the word waited patiently. When Aunt Isabella sang opera in soprano, the word made itself small and flew into Elbert's mouth like a little gnat.

"That's when the trouble began. Chives the butler tried to balance too many trays of deviled eggs. He dropped them all onto Madam Friatta's gown. Madame Friatta spilled her spritzer on Sir Hilary's bald head. Sir Hilary threw his croquet mallet up into the air.

"Then, with a terrible thud, the mallet landed on Elbert's great toe. Elbert opened his mouth to scream, but the bad word sprang out, bigger and uglier than before. Everyone at the party was shocked..."

Elbert's mother trots him to the bathroom to wash his mouth out with soap, and Elbert, mortified and bewildered, runs to the gardener's cottage. The "wizard gardener", seeing that Elbert has caught a bad word, takes some sparkling words from a drawer and bakes them into a delicious cake which Elbert eats. Elbert returns to the party, but when another mishap lands another croquet mallet on his foot, he blurts out, "MY STARS! THUNDER AND LIGHTING! RATS AND BLUE BLAZES!" Etcetera.

Audrey and Don Wood have collaborated on many delightful children's picture books, as writer and illustrator, including The Napping House, which is also available at The Charmed Bookshop.

Connect with Audrey Wood at Goodreads.
Goodreads.com/author/show/3368.Audrey_Wood

Condition*: Very good/very good. There's minor shelf wear along the top and bottom edges of the blue paper cover boards. The dust jacket shows only minor shelf wear, including a bump at the top of the spine.

*Based on guidelines of the Independent Online Booksellers' Association.

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