In the dim and distant past, circa 1987, there was a breakfast cereal called Crispy Critters. It was basically cereal shaped like animal crackers, and the mascot was a creature named Crispy apparently modeled on Jimmy Durante.*
Tucked away since then in the attic of my parents’ house were two Special Edition Golden Books featuring Crispy and his animal pals, once included with cereal boxes as a promotional incentive. Their “special edition” status comes from that limited release and from the fact that they’re paperbacks, not hardcovers like standard Little Golden Books.
No Place Like Home tells the story of Crispy and the animal band making friends with a squirrel child who can’t find his way home after it starts getting dark.
Crispy’s Bedtime Book describes how young Emily can’t sleep because she didn’t pay attention in class that day, so she gets a lesson from her cereal about the letter C.
(Both books were written by Justine Korman, illustrated by Dean Yeagle, and painted by Mike Favata.)
Today a person’s first impulse might be to make fun of these, but reading No Place I liked the names of the animal characters and their choice of instruments. The internet says this cereal originally showed up in the 1960s, and the 1987 version was an attempted revival. I don’t know which era these animal pals first appeared in, but somebody put a bit of thought into them and I appreciate that. (“Waldo” and “rhino” don’t actually rhyme, but oh well.)
On the other hand, in the Bedtime Book you have this page:
In the real world, the camel is found in Africa and Asia. The cactus is found in North America and South America. But probably somebody said, “Hey, camels like deserts. Deserts have cactuses. Perfect!” and never gave it another thought.
Now, it’s not enough that I notice this kind of thing and get annoyed by it; no, I have to come up with an explanation too. My mind insists on making this not a mistake. So: Camille the Camel is from the other side of the world, but now she lives in North America. Unable to travel back to her home deserts, she visits the southwest U.S. to experience the best alternative on hand. So she can be found in cactus-filled deserts, sighing wistfully and thinking of a home she’s unable to return to. And I feel better for giving a sad and lonely backstory to a cereal-box character I will likely never think of again.
*I’m not making a joke. Listen to a commercial.