About
Children’s Book Cover Parodies are a series of photoshopped images spoofing a variety of well-known cover art illustrations for children’s books. In the late 2000s, the concept was popularized through a number of hashtag games that prompted users to alter children’s book titles in specific ways.
Origin
The first hashtag game that specifically involved alteration of a children’s book title was #failedchildrensbooktitles[4], which was first tweeted out on July 18th, 2009.
#failedchildrensbooktitles Mommy cries because you lived
— Kevin H. (@cookerguy) July 18th, 2009
The hashtag game was quickly picked up by celebrities such as Mindy Kaling[5] and Diablo Cody[6] on July 29th, when the hashtag was last tweeted out.
Spread
Children’s book titles were included in hashtag games[7] with broader scopes throughout the early 2010s. On May 6th, 2011, The Huffington Post[12] collected children’s book titles from the Better Book Titles blog to celebrate Children’s Book week.
#CompletedBooks
On May 31st, 2012, the hashtag #completedbooks[9] was first tweeted out by Twitter user @malki[10]. The game involves taking a book title and expanding on it to complete the thought. Children’s book titles altered through the hashtag game include Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The best uses of the hashtag were collected by Slacktory[11] in a post published on the same day.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. I Killed Them Like You Told Me To. #completedbooks
— Slacktory (@Slacktory) May 31, 2012
Harold And The Purple Crayon-Shaped Protuberance #completedbooks
— David Malki! (@malki) May 31, 2012
Diabetes Overcame The Hungry Caterpillar #completedbooks
— sgrees(@ahuj9) May 31, 2012
#AddAWordRuinABook
On October 4th, 2013, the hashtag #addawordruinabook was first tweeted out by DocEpador.[8] The game involves altering or adding to the title of a book that would make the book unpleasant or distasteful.Children’s book titles doctored through the hashtag game include Harry Potter, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and A Wrinkle in Time. The hashtag pops up sporadically on Twitter, with its most recent use on January 20th, 2014.
#addawordruinabook Harry Potter and the Chamber Pot of Secrets
— Nuclear MADNESS (@INukeYou) October 5th, 2013
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe Malfunction #AddaWordRuinaBook
— DoYouRemember (@DoYouRemember) January 20th, 2014
A Wrinkle In Lunch Time #AddaWordRuinaBook
— Ryan Orbuch (@orbuch) October 9th, 2013
#RuinaChildrensBook
#RuinaChildrensBook is a hashtag game played on Twitter that involves altering or adding to the title of a classic children’s book that would make the book unpleasant or distasteful. On an episode of the Comedy Central show @Midnight which aired on March 24th, 2014, guests were ask to use the hashtag #RuinaChildrensBook in real time. Within 24 hours of the episode airing the hashtag #RuinaChildrensBook[3] was tweeted out over 126,000 times. On March 25th, The Daily Dot[1] and Bustle[4] published posts covering the spread of the hashtag.
Charlie and the Chocolate Allergy #RuinAChildrensBook
— Norm Wilner (@wilnervision) March 25, 2014
Harry Potter and the Kidney Stone #RuinAChildrensBook
— Jo Knowles (@JoKnowles) March 25, 2014
James and the Giant Peach-Sized Tumor. #ruinachildrensbook
midnight</p>— James Sims (SimsJames) March 25, 2014
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]TheDailyDot – How to ruin a children’s book in 140 characters
[3]Topsy – #RuinaChildrensBook
[4]Topsy – #FailedChildrensBooks
[5]Twitter – Mindy Kaling
[6]Twitter – Diablo Cody
[7]Bustle – Ruin a Childrens Books and 8 Other Hilarious Bookish Hashtags
[9]Topsy – #completedbooks
[10]Twitter – #completedbooks
[11]Slacktory – #CompletedBooks: The Best Jokes From the Twitter Hashtag Game
[12]The Huffington Post – Better Book Titles: Children’s Book Edition