“The story of a misfit kid who grew up to be a punk rock hero”: Joey Ramone to be the subject of a new children’s book

Here’s a news story that will moisten the eyes of even the most cynical old punk – the late Joey Ramone is set to be the subject of a children’s picture book for “all the kids who feel a little different.”

It’s called Gabba Gabba We Accept You: The Wondrous Tale of Joey Ramone and will be published in June via Drag City, the publishing arm of the indie record label of the same name. The author is Jay Ruttenburg, with illustrations by Lucinda Schreiber.

Gabba Gabba We Accept You tells “the story of a misfit kid who grew up to be a punk rock hero,” according to the book’s description. “The challenging times that Jeffrey Ross Hyman endured before becoming Joey Ramone speak to young folks navigating the complexities of growing up, via teachable punk stuff: being your own person with your own compass and embracing uniqueness.”

Ruttenburg explained how he alighted on the idea of the using the character of Joey: “My daughter just turned 11, so I’ve spent recent years in children’s book land. I think I’ve read her 97 books about Abraham Lincoln and 12,984 about Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"It occurred to me that a lot of the life lessons I’ve been trying to teach her weren’t learned through my family or school, but through punk stuff: the importance of being your own person, following your own radar instead of a group’s, embracing uniqueness, etc. The Ramones, and in particular Joey, seemed like the perfect embodiment of that.”

The real Joey had a difficult childhood, suffered from frail health and was diagnosed with both schizophrenia and obsessive compulsion disorder when he was in his teens. There has been a Netflix biopic of his life – I Slept With Joey Ramone – in the pipeline for some time that depicts all of these challenges as well as the Ramones’ uniquely challenging career.

But just as the band’s twin pillars – Joey and guitarist Johnny - barely spoke to each other for much of the band’s lifetime, a legal battle between the estates of the two bandmates has held up production of I Slept With Joey Ramone.

Joey’s brother, Mickey Leigh and Johnny’s widow Linda Cummings-Ramone have traded suits and insults and four years after it was first announced there is still no confirmed release date for the movie.