Gabba Gabba We Accept You: The Wondrous Tale Of Joey Ramones

Book, Hardcover, Full-Color Picture Book, 51 Pages. Calling all parents lost in Kids Book Land! Gabba Gabba, We Accept You is a children’s picture book telling the story of a misfit kid who grew up to be a punk rock hero. The challenging times that Jeffrey Ross Hyman endured before becoming Joey Ramone speak to young folks navigating the complexities of growing up, via teachable punk stuff: being your own person with your own compass, embracing uniqueness, etc. Jay Ruttenberg & Lucinda Schreiber light the tale righteously with plain-spoken language, lyrical design and colorful illustrations, finding unexpected depths on every page.About the inspiration for this book, Jay says,"My daughter just turned 11, so I've spent recent years in children's book land. I think I've read her 97 books about Abraham Lincoln and 12,984 about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It occurred to me that a lot of the life lessons I've been trying to teach her weren’t learned through my family or school, but through punk stuff: the importance of being your own person, following your own radar instead of a group's, embracing uniqueness, etc. The Ramones, and in particular Joey, seemed like the perfect embodiment of that. So my big hope for the book is that it tells the story of Joey Ramone, but also, in kind of the biggest way, of what punk rock means, and how it might help a little kid wade through difficult social waters and be their own unique person."Gabba Gabba We Accept You speaks in well-grounded and wise verbal and visual language to inform and affirm children – young ones and the adult children, alike – that their individual personalities have an inspired and inspiring place in the world. In the process of becoming and being a person, there’s no one set of rules. The sooner we all know that, the sooner we’ll find ourselves in a much better place.Jay Ruttenberg is the editor of the comedy journal “The Lowbrow Reader” and of the book The Lowbrow Reader Reader. He has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times, and other publications. He grew up in suburban Chicago and lives with his family in New York City.Lucinda Schreiber is an award-winning illustrator and animator. She has collaborated with a long list of clients, including MoMA, Saks Fifth Avenue, the BBC, NPR, and Vox. Born in South Africa and raised mostly in Australia, she currently resides in Brooklyn.