Tog the Ribber or Granny's Tale

by Paul Coltman

A poem relating the events of a frightening evening when Granny, as a young girl, was chased by Tog the Ribber's vengeful ghost.

Genres: Poetry

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1985

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully unusual "children's" book; unapologetically dark and off-kilter. In it, your grandmother tells you the story of how her hair turned white, and how she got the strange, half-nonsensical speech impediment that she has spoken with since she was a little girl.

One night while walking home through the woods, the young girl decided to take a shortcut home through the woods, past the tree where a criminal was once hung to die and his body torn apart by hungry birds. Sure enough, the ghost of that man, called Tog the Ribber (at least in granny's strange accent, he is...) is waiting for her in the tree. He proceeds to climb down and chase the girl through the course of the book, through beautifully illustrated pages, each with its own unique, densely elaborate decorative margin that contains extra eye candy.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes beautiful, and beautifully strange, things.

[Amy Linton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poet Paul Coltman joined forces with his daughter Gillian McClure to create a wonderfully spooky, quirky, sophisticated picture book. Coltman (1917-2003) uses nonsense words to narrate this story about why your granny doesn't speak aright—and why she doesn't sleep a night. Strange and beautiful, this book reads aloud beautifully.