The NY Times thinks the big story here is that Harper Collins digitally removed the cigarette from the jacket cover photograph of Clement Hurd, the illustrator of Goodnight Moon.
I think the real story is that the book sells 800,000 copies a year. And 600,000 of them are boardbooks. Each board book is 0.7" thick. Stacked and held together with a 0.3" layer of mush, they'd reach 9.47 miles high. Counting from the 1947 publication date, that stack will reach the moon in only...oh. Not until 25170 AD. Never mind, they're right. The cigarette thing's the bigger story. Sorry to bother you.
'Goodnight Moon,' Smokeless Version [nyt via dt reader kaz]
I'd say "Buy Goodnight Moon at Amazon," but you probably already did. And if you didn't, even with an aggressive chew rate, there are probably 20 million decent used copies floating around out there to choose from.
I like that now he looks like Bob Dole.
I don't like Goodnight Moon that much -- the perspective on the room seems off, and that bugs me more than it probably should. But we have several copies in various formats. I suppose the ones with him smoking will be valuable now -- all 20 million of them.
his non-ciggy picture looks like it needs some sort of snappy caption. without the cig, that hand looks like he's rubbing his fingers together in some sort of skeezy "show me the money, heh-heh-heh" kind of way...
I'm thinking maybe they should put a martini in his hand instead.
What's really strange is on our copy, the photo is completely different:
Goodnight Moon Back Cover Scan
lolol. I think a contest is in order. -ed.]
In my version, Greedo shoots first.