The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories (Weisbach/Morrow) is a depressing, but sweet, book of poetry written and illustrated by Tim Burton.

Burton, a former Disney animator, is the creative genius behind the films Batman, Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands. Melancholy is Burton’s second book; his previous book, The Nightmare Before Christmas, became a feature film.

The book is a collection of poems about malformed and misunderstood children leading somewhat miserable lives. Take, for example, the sad love affair of Stick Boy and Match Girl: “Stick Boy liked Match Girl, he liked her a lot./He liked her cute figure, he thought she was hot./But could a flame ever burn for a match and a stick?/It did quite literally; he burned up pretty quick.”

The title story is about a husband and wife who, after a seafood dinner, conceive a child born with an oyster for a head. When sexual problems for the couple appear, the doctor recommends an aphrodisiac, and poor Oyster Boy is no more. Gross? Yes. But sad, too.

In fact, most of the children meet a horrifying end, like Mummy Boy who is mistaken for a pi?ata and Junk Girl who throws herself down the garbage disposal in despair.

Although they are absurdly tragic, the poems leave the reader feeling somewhat cheered because real life could never be that bad. On top of that, one has to marvel at the sheer invention behind some of these kids – like Stain Boy, the super hero who does not rescue anything from anyone, he just leaves stains.

The book address issues like pollution, angst-filled love and doomed efforts to conceive. Some of it is funny, and some of it is gross.

Burton’s drawings, while at times gruesome, give the book its sweetness. Many are in color, and while they are not elaborate, they are cute. They rescue the poems from appearing too gratingly miserable.

Burton creates the children so that the reader adores them for their deformities. The 23 poems are a quick and entertaining read.