Books like It Could Always Be Worse
By Margot Zemach
For the kid who loves watching grown-up problems get hilariously, chaotically worse before they get better, this folktale delivers chaos with a purpose. Old-world folktale energy, gently absurd, warmly comic.
A beloved family dog named Hally Tosis has breath so terrible her family wants to give her away, so the kids try every trick they can think of to fix her putrid panting before it's too late.
A mischievous family cat dodges bath time by scrambling Dad's chore list, so the family ends up mowing the floor, vacuuming the lawn, and mopping the baby instead of doing what they meant to.
A man walks down the road and meets a donkey with only three legs, then keeps adding one silly detail after another until the description spirals into an entirely absurd creature.
A little old lady complains that her house is too small, so a wise old man tells her to bring in the hen, goat, pig, and cow one by one — with noisy, crowded results.
A worried mother tells her dog George to bark, but out comes a meow, then an oink — so she takes him to the vet to find out what's really going on inside him.
Five little monkeys jump on the bed after saying goodnight to Mama — and one by one, they fall off, bump their heads, and get a call to the doctor.
A dog who hates baths buries the scrubbing brush and runs off for a day of adventure, getting so filthy that his own family no longer recognizes him.
A pesky old black fly buzzes through the alphabet on a hot summer day, landing on the apple pie, bothering the baby, and driving one household to the edge — until someone finally swats him.
Farmer Brown's cows find a typewriter in the barn and start leaving him notes with demands — and when he refuses, the whole farm goes on strike.
A hungry creature works its way through a snack-filled alphabet, eating everything in sight from A to P before regret sets in — and a resolution to change follows.
A child gets ten minutes to get ready for bed while a growing crowd of hamster tourists pours through the front door for a wild, wordless-countdown tour of the house.
Twin sisters who look alike but never think alike share six funny stories about their everyday adventures, proving that being silly together is its own kind of fun.
