Some days we give up on the old intellectual adult lark and don our cap of childhood. For this excellent little work Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob just launched and we had to read it.
The blob-based excellence is from Huw Aaron, a Welsh author and cartoonist. He’s provided illustrations for Private Eye and The Spectator, but here he is now with a work for kids and “kid-brained grown-ups” (as he puts it). Very kind of you indeed, sir.
Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob: A Rhyming Bedtime Story for Blobs Big and Small
This is a bedtime story. Being the mavericks we are, we read it around 3pm on 17/04/2025 as we weren’t feeling sleepy at all. Take that, society!
Anyway, the plot here isn’t on a Solzhenitsyn level, but you do get bang for your buck.
“It’s time to go to bed, and whether you are a phantom, a vampire, a Dark Lord or a yeti, you still must brush your teeth, put on your pyjamas, and settle down with a cosy story.”
Thus, into the world of bedtime rhyming doth we go. It begins with meeting the disgusting blob family, whom are green and slimy and very much like big boogers.
Aaron’s illustrations are wonderful, really adding life to this story. Which is a classic bit of subversion—taking a classic bedtime story idea and twisting it with grotesque forms.
There are few words in Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob. The ones that are there make for a pleasing time of it, offering a gentle tale of the grotesque slime heading off for beddy bo-bos.
“Sleep tight now. The day’s nearly done, my horrid and beastly, awful, appalling, grotty and ghastly, repulsive, revolting… precious little one.”
The rhyming tone is in line with other picture book classics, such as Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham (1960).
Plus, the mischievous tone and focus on slime gently nods at classics such as Roald Dahl’s classic The Twits (1980).
We should imagine kids would love Huw Aaron’s work. A fun little read before bed packed with lots of wickedly silly creatures to giggle about. Again, the book just launched (April 2025) and we hope it shifts a fair few copies!
Huw Aaron’s Guide to Drawing MONSTERS!!!
Aaron has a real knack for this illustration lark. It’s a skill we greatly admire, but not one we have much of! Heck, one can’t be a genius at everything, eh? We’ll stick to our forte—advanced mathematics.
Aaron can also speak Cymraeg (the Celtic language native to Wales) and some of his instructional videos feature him doing so.
It’s kind of forgotten that, here in the UK. With all the pomp, ceremony, and sense of exceptionalism from the nationalistic sect, it’s a diverse little island packed with varying cultures.
That’s a great thing. And Aaron’s work shows how to create a unifying front whilst embracing historic roots. With DISGUSTING BLOBS! Bon! 🟢
