Socks won't stay on bony toes, And underwear just sags and slumps When hanging from their bony rumps. Perhaps you've been curious about the life and times of Murphy the Rat. He's a nasty little character who lives in the sewers. Paul Duggan here treats us to forty-nine quick and ghastly little poems about skeletons, rats, beastly bullies, and more. His rhythm is sometimes a little uneven, but the warped humor never falters.
Every poem is just the right size and shape to catch a kid's fancy.
As for the pictures, Daniel Sylvestre catches perfectly Duggan's offbeat vision. Long tentacled creatures and crazed insects lurk throughout. The rat Murphy struts confidently from beginning to end. Another recurring character looks on with silent cynicism. Two Skeletons on the Telephone was first published in Canada in 1992 as Murphy the Rat and Other Tales of Tough City.