Fun Stuff: Learn to play video games with Dick And Jane

So, do you guys know about the Dick and Jane series of children’s books? It’s really integral to understanding today’s Fun Stuff.

For those of you too young (and pop culture illiterate) to know, the Dick and Jane basal readers were published from the 1930s to the 1970s, and showed the two eponymous children doing pretty mundane things. The books taught literacy by way of the sight word reading method. The truth is, these books would not be remembered today, if not for the fact that they are remembered as products of their time. (Context; the books would not introduce non-white characters until 1965.)

So, here and now, illustrator Heather Martinez (who legit does the covers for the Spongebob Squarepants DVDs) has made a fun new series riffing on these books, by way of video games. You can check out the pics below and buy them as prints here.

And before you ask, these prints make fun of Duck Hunt, King’s Quest IV (two of them), and Joust, respectively.