The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album

Background

The author of The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album is Matt Groening, the creator of the animated series The Simpsons on which the book is based. It was released by Harper Paperbacks on November 20, 1991. The book's cover, which features the character Bart Simpson lying naked on his stomach on a bearskin rug, is a reference to a 1972 centerfold of Cosmopolitan in which American actor Burt Reynolds posed naked in a similar way. Newer printings feature Homer naked on the rug.

Contents

The album begins with photographs and memorabilia from the ancestors of the two families, and then progresses with baby photos of Homer and Marge, and then profiles them as they grow up and fall in love. Finally it shows photographs and memorabilia from Bart's, Lisa's and Maggie's childhoods. The Simpson tree can be found on the inside of the front cover, while the Bouvier family appears on the inside of the back cover. It is revealed by the family trees, for example, that Homer is descended from Scandinavians and American Indians, and Marge is descended from the French. Through a series of marriages, one can see that the Simpsons are distantly related to Mr. Burns. The information in the book has been contradicted several times on The Simpsons and its canonicity is unknown.

Reception

Ann Burt Meyer of The Capital Times noted that "children will clamor for this full-color cartoon book if they're fans of the show. Adult buyers may want to check it out first — because the book, like the TV show, has innuendoes for adults only." Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "fans of television's most popular underachievers will enjoy Groening's The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album a collection of bizarre memorabilia that traces the clan back to their bug-eyed ancestors Sven Simpson, Claretta Ethridge, Mary Frowning Cloud, and Joe Puffing Goat."

References

References

1. (1991). "The Comics Journal, Issues 144-147". The Comics Journal, Inc.
2. Loohauis, Jackie. (1991-08-06). "It's time to harvest fall's crop". [[The Milwaukee Journal]].
3. (2007-04-27). "Little Bart flashes his part". [[Postmedia News]].
4. (2006-10-26). "The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album".
5. Groening, Matt. (1991). "The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album". [[Harper Paperbacks]].
6. Connelly, Eileen Aj. (1993-11-21). "Gifts for Seinfeld fans can make them masters of their own domain popular sitcoms". [[Staten Island Advance]].
7. Meyer, Ann Burt. (1992-03-04). "With books, it's all in the family". [[The Capital Times]].
8. Solomon, Charles. (1991-12-01). "Paperbacks". [[Los Angeles Times]].