Fungus the Bogeyman

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Because fact is that I have to use my strongest reading glasses throughout and still be constantly squinting, as especially the font size of the printed, of Biggs' presented text is so cramped and so minuscule in size to make easy and comfortable perusal nigh impossible (I have actually had to reread some sections more than a few times because my eyes accidentally kept missing and skipping entire chunks, this also being a further caveat for parents reading Fungus the Bogeyman with or to their children, and perhaps also a potential issue for recently independent readers attempting to read Fungus the Bogeyman by themselves, as they often read better and easier with larger and bolder print). Fungus the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs is fantastic and intriguing read for children aged between seven and eleven. Initially published in 1977, Fungus the Bogeyman follows one day in the life of the title character, a working class Bogeyman with the mundane job of scaring human beings. One of my earliest book-related memories is of my parents taking me to the local library so I could rumage through the cluttered jumble of children's books, always in the hope of finding this buried treasure.

We have more or less straight comics, but also sections of pages treated as if they were notice boards, with text boxes pinned to them, "censored" text, charts, etc. Only partly a story about Fungus; most of the book is devoted to describing the culture, food, houses, gardens, furniture, clothing, literature, pasttimes, etc. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on a pop-up opening door on the verso of the front panel in the year of publication, "For Eileen Ireland With Best Wishes from Raymond Briggs 29 September 1982. This adaption also starred Marc Warren, Keeley Hawes, Joanna Scanlan, Jimmy Akingbola, Paul Kaye, and also Victoria Wood in her final television role before her death in April 2016. The book is set out into panels and large blocks of text, with Briggs' signature style of illustration.Best known for his more conventional children's books such as The Snowman, Briggs, like Roald Dahl, has an uncanny sense of what really appeals to children -- gross stuff and toilet humor. For while Fungus' world and his daily life are indeed often minutely, engagingly and even in a strange way beautifully described and depicted (and the accompanying illustrations are gorgeously drawn and actually, amazingly sparkle with their very and often intense general ugliness), really and truly, for and to me, the constant and ever-present referrals to farting, vomiting, grottiness, slime, mould and the like does tend to become rather frustratingly dragging. An immensely inventive picture book landmark enjoyed as much by adults as children, Briggs' incredibly detailed classic charts a day in the gleefully gross and disgusting life of the eponymous monster. As a children’s book today, I would not recommend it: there are many references to British culture in the 70s that simply would not be understood; the vocabulary used is quite advanced (at times fantastical) and thus I would not even be sure at what age group this book should be aimed; and as the book is so dated, it feels sexist and racist by today’s standards.

He is a bogeyman who goes to the surface each night to cause havoc (literally: things that go bump on the night). It also reads in the style of a non-fiction guide with and lots of information about 'Bogeys' and their different lifestyle.

Bogeydom is not a place I would particularly like to visit, but I am glad I am aware of it, and that while reading about its goings-on my dinner, and sense of humour, remained intact. The topic was inspired after Briggs watched a Panorama documentary on nuclear contingency planning, and the dense format of the page was inspired by a Swiss publisher's miniature version of Father Christmas. Fungus goes to work up where the ‘drycleaners’ live, traelling very slowly on his flat wheeled bike. Combine that rudimentary appeal with a very adult level of punning and an endearing melancholy and you have Fungus. Briggs continued to work in a similar format, but with more adult content, in Gentleman Jim (1980), a sombre look at the working class trials of Jim and Hilda Bloggs, closely based on his parents.