The titles of the tales in Highly Inappropriate Tales for Young People by writer Douglas Coupland and illustrator Graham Roumieu almost speak for themselves: ‘Sandra, the Truly Dreadful Babysitter’, ‘Brendan, the Action Figure With Issues’, ‘Kevin, the Hobo Minivan with Extremely Low Morals’, ‘Mr Frazer, the Undead Substitute Teacher’.

The illustrations give washed out colour to the title characters: thieves, psychopaths, alcoholics, sadists and, well, a zombie. The stories are mean-spirited and nasty and, like the amplified, exploded, social types they portray, they play out as we expect them to. If we do find Donald, The Incredibly Hostile Juice Box’s schoolyard ultra-violence attractive and his exclusion by society’s hypocrites appropriate, we’re led down the road of fascistic nihilism.

The only real surprise is Hans, the Weird Exchange Student whose apparently macabre behaviour sees him at first excluded by the popular girls at school and then embraced for his weirdness. It’s the only tale to really take a turn at the end, the only story that manages to manipulate the reader’s expectations.

Roald Dahl made an art of the acceptably inappropriate story for young people; his writing appeals first to children, and then to adults, in that order. These tales have an inverse appeal. While it’s possible that Gen-Xers will buy this book for their twelve year olds ostensibly to show them how cool they are, to lift the bar on transgression, really they’re stories for adults in which some young people might also find pleasure.

David Sornig