For sale is the controversial 1969 CHILDREN’S BOOK – BANG BANG YOU’RE DEAD by Louise Fitzhugh and Sandra Scoppettone. This unusual hard to find first edition hardcover book was published by Harper and Rowe, NY. The book is in great overall condition. The spine is tight and the interior pages are not torn or stained but there are some staining on the bottom edge of the covers. The 32-page book has detailed and realistic illustrations throughout. This book would not have been published today given the book’s theme of kids shooting and aiming guns at one another. Even the book’s dialogue is all rough edges, such as “‘I got you dead,’ said Bert. “Bang!’ ‘I got you dead back,’ yelled James. They all lay dead.” and “’Yeah, we’ll fix those skunks. Let’s chop off their heads!”” Throughout the story the kids fight and treat each other terribly, calling nasty names and literally bloodying each other’s faces. The morale of the story is that playing war is better than fighting a real war but the message is overshadowed by all the blood dripping from all of their faces. A great collectible book from a great American author and illustrator.
The author, Louise Fitzhugh (October 5, 1928 – November 19, 1974), is an American writer and illustrator of children’s books, known best for the novel Harriet the Spy. Her last book was “Nobody’s Family is Going to Change”.
