Sweet Pickles

Not the food item, the book series.

Sweet Pickles is a series of 40 children's books by Ruth Lerner Perle, Jacquelyn Reinach, and Richard Hefter (who also created Stickybear and the Strawberry Library). The books are set in the fictional town of Sweet Pickles and are about anthropomorphic animals with different personalities and behavior. There are 26 animals—one for each letter of the alphabet.

There was one book for each of the 26 Sweet Pickles characters (each representing a letter of the alphabet):

* Who Stole Alligator's Shoe? about Accusing Alligator who blames everything and everybody for anything that happens
* Scaredy Bear about Bashful Bear who is so shy he is afraid to try almost everything
* Fixed by Camel about Clever Camel—she's very practical and can fix anything, including Kidding Kangaroo
* No Kicks for Dog about Doubtful Dog—he doubts anything and everything, including himself.
* Elephant Eats the Profits about Enormous Elephant who loves to eat and eat and eat and eat
* Fish and Flips about Fearless Fish, the town daredevil. She careens around town on her motorcycle wearing her special SCOBA helmet (Self-Contained Out-of-water Breathing Apparatus) and tries to prove how fearless she is.
* Goose Goofs Off about Goof-off Goose—she'll do everything—tomorrow!
* Hippo Jogs for Health about Healthy Hippo who always has the latest and greatest answer for keeping fit. This week it's jogging.
* Me Too Iguana about Imitating Iguana who wants to be just like everybody else
* Jackal Wants Everything about Jealous Jackal who is convinced that everyone else is better off than he is
* Who Can Trust You, Kangaroo? about Kidding Kangaroo who doesn't know when to stop joking
* Lion is Down in the Dumps about Loving Lion who would like to love everybody all of the time
* Moody Moose Buttons about Moody Moose—you never know just what mood he's going to be in next.
* Nuts to Nightingale about Nasty Nightingale—she's so mean that she upsets and hurts everyone she meets.
* Octopus Protests about Outraged Octopus—she's not afraid to say NO! when bad things go on around town.
* Pig Thinks Pink about Positive Pig who is absolutely sure that no matter what happens, it's all for the best
* Quail Can't Decide about Questioning Quail who can't make up her mind
* Rest, Rabbit, Rest about Responsible Rabbit who's so busy, busy, busy he never takes time to relax
* Stork Spills the Beans about Smarty Stork—he has answers for every question, including who delivers babies.
* Turtle Throws a Tantrum about Temper Tantrum Turtle who will do almost anything to get her own way
* Happy Birthday, Unicorn about Unique Unicorn—she may be the oldest citizen in town, but she's not too old for fun.
* Kiss Me, I'm Vulture about Vain Vulture who thinks he is better than anyone else
* Very Worried Walrus about Worried Walrus who worries a lot—especially about riding a bicycle
* Xerus Won't Allow It about X-Rating Xerus, who thinks that telling people what is not allowed will solve all problems
* Yakety Yak Yak Yak about Yakety Yak who talks and never listens
* Zip Goes Zebra about Zany Zebra—he's not afraid to be different, which really annoys Alligator, Dog, and Kangaroo

It's all out of print but there's a clothing site.

Xerus Won't Allow It about X-Rating Xerus, who thinks that telling people what is not allowed will solve all problems.

What is a Xerus?

oh, a squirrel.

A South African ground squirrel:

http://www.hlasek.com/foto/xerus_inauris_db4762.jpg

They don't really look like the disapproving sort.

Yeah but this one had glasses and a brush, see:

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/2d/9a/fd2492c008a0eb8005323010._AA238_.L.jpg

I only remeber the commercials, never saw the books. I coveted them, though. I was a voracious young reader.

wasn't sweet pickles the one where they'd show adverts of the little green bus driving up to the front door of your suburban house with costumed characters delivering the books in a special plastic carrier?

Well, there was this ad:

And this one:

I have to say the spokesmen in both of these are not exactly setting my mind at ease.

"circle the pickle"

two different guys, two different levels of crepey

XP HA

Those titles aren't nearly as awesome once you realize they end at the word "about".

ad 1 - Jim Carrey, ad 2 - Chevy Chase

All they're missing are gold chains.

i remember these, they came in a plastic carrying case together right?

Yup.

wasn't sweet pickles the one where they'd show adverts of the little green bus driving up to the front door of your suburban house with costumed characters delivering the books in a special plastic carrier?

These commercials were cruel and manipulative to children: when I was little I honestly thought a special Sweet Pickles bus would come and deliver your crap every month! It wasn't until I was older that I realized that couldn't possibly be true.

I mean, it looked lame and I hate sweet pickles the food item, so I never wanted it, or anything (I might have been a little older, too), but I definitely remember thinking there was an actual Sweet Pickles bus, and that some day I would see it delivering stuff to some other kid in the neighborhood.

I think that was probably the attraction for me. Fuck a Sweet Pickle.

I knew a girl who ended up in the hospital for that. Actually maybe it was a kielbasa.

the commercials are burned into my head and conflated with the "I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE FRAGGLE ROCK"-kid one.

of course that exists on goddamned youtube, also:

"Jim Henson's family of muppets make reading fun for your three-to-seven year-old."

Okay, kids, have a good night. Your babysitter is this guy named Jim whose best friends/"family" are a mop bucket and a fluffy pillow in disguise.

the commercials i remember for these are a little different, but i'm younger.

Books in the series

There was one book for each of the 26 Sweet Pickles characters (each representing a letter of the alphabet):

* Who Stole Alligator's Shoe? about Accusing Alligator who blames everything and everybody for anything that happens
* Scaredy Bear about Bashful Bear who is so shy he is afraid to try almost everything
* Fixed by Camel about Clever Camel—she's very practical and can fix anything, including Kidding Kangaroo
* No Kicks for Dog about Doubtful Dog—he doubts anything and everything, including himself.
* Elephant Eats the Profits about Enormous Elephant who loves to eat and eat and eat and eat
* Fish and Flips about Fearless Fish, the town daredevil. She careens around town on her motorcycle wearing her special SCOBA helmet (Self-Contained Out-of-water Breathing Apparatus) and tries to prove how fearless she is.
* Goose Goofs Off about Goof-off Goose—she'll do everything—tomorrow!
* Hippo Jogs for Health about Healthy Hippo who always has the latest and greatest answer for keeping fit. This week it's jogging.
* Me Too Iguana about Imitating Iguana who wants to be just like everybody else
* Jackal Wants Everything about Jealous Jackal who is convinced that everyone else is better off than he is
* Who Can Trust You, Kangaroo? about Kidding Kangaroo who doesn't know when to stop joking
* Lion is Down in the Dumps about Loving Lion who would like to love everybody all of the time
* Moody Moose Buttons about Moody Moose—you never know just what mood he's going to be in next.
* Nuts to Nightingale about Nasty Nightingale—she's so mean that she upsets and hurts everyone she meets.
* Octopus Protests about Outraged Octopus—she's not afraid to say NO! when bad things go on around town.
* Pig Thinks Pink about Positive Pig who is absolutely sure that no matter what happens, it's all for the best
* Quail Can't Decide about Questioning Quail who can't make up her mind
* Rest, Rabbit, Rest about Responsible Rabbit who's so busy, busy, busy he never takes time to relax
* Stork Spills the Beans about Smarty Stork—he has answers for every question, including who delivers babies.
* Turtle Throws a Tantrum about Temper Tantrum Turtle who will do almost anything to get her own way
* Happy Birthday, Unicorn about Unique Unicorn—she may be the oldest citizen in town, but she's not too old for fun.
* Kiss Me, I'm Vulture about Vain Vulture who thinks he is better than anyone else
* Very Worried Walrus about Worried Walrus who worries a lot—especially about riding a bicycle
* Xerus Won't Allow It about X-Rating Xerus[1], who thinks that telling people what is not allowed will solve all problems
* Yakety Yak Yak Yak about Yakety Yak who talks and never listens
* Zip Goes Zebra about Zany Zebra—he's not afraid to be different, which really annoys Alligator, Dog, and Kangaroo

A poster and a plastic book case (which included a personalized decal set) was included with the subscription.

had the whole set! loved them. and i loved studying/drawing maps, so i spent lots of time staring at the inside covers, which had a drawing of the entire village including where everyone lived.

by "including" i mean all the pickle creatures' houses were labeled and whatnot duh

that lazy goose just will not get out of her hammock for shit!

She's just taking it easy.

I remember the kangaroo being a goof.

There was another one of these monthly subscriptions for kids but it was all "interesting" animal facts?
I have a really accurate memory of the kid in the commercials. He said "the platypus has feet like a duck, but it's furry!" and "the rhinoceros sleeps standing up and he only eats at night" which I found really hard to believe. Do rhinos only eat at night?

wildlife treasury cards!

Yes, thank you! Do you also know if this is true about the Rhino's eating habits?

i don't think it's true.

What the fuck. I was just telling Sunny how I used to read these books.

I got one with a record, I want to say it was one of those floppy-square plastic ones. Theme song went SWEET PICKLES, they're DA DA DA DEE DA or something.

SMART MOMS KNOW / HOW KIDS MINDS GROW / UPON / SWEET PICKLES

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

OMG Ned the flashbacks

Big ups to anyone who can find a JPEG of the map of the Sweet Pickles neighborhood (with denotations on which house each animal lived in) which graced the inside cover and first page of each book.

Yeah, I was looking for that yesterday. It's gotta be around somewhere!

http://www.i-mockery.com/wildlife-treasury/default.php

i had both the sweet pickles bus + books and the fraggle rock tote bag + books... but I remember being more enamoured with the bus and tote bag than with the actual books

http://www.i-mockery.com/wildlife-treasury/default.php

The Duck-Billed Platypus: it has feet like a duck, but it's furry.

Did you know that giraffes sleep standing up?