BRANTFORD -- Kids around the world love Robert Munsch's stories of rebellion against bedtime, snowsuits, healthy food and other banes of childhood.

The tales are comical, quirky and heartwarming, honed during numerous storytelling sessions with kids before any words ever reach the pages of his books, which now number 42 -- and counting.

The best-selling author writes two books a year, working with illustrator Michael Martchenko, whose cartoonish art is a perfect fit.

"My stories are realistic, but not quite," Munsch saysbefore performing in Brantford.

"And his illustrations start at the breakfast table, but then things get really weird."

Their latest release, this spring's ZOOM!, is dedicated to Lauretta Reid of Orillia, who wrote Munsch, asking why there weren't any stories about disabled kids.

Now, she's featured in the tale of a girl who gets speeding tickets for going too fast in a wheelchair.

Hundreds of people lined up for a recent book-signing at the Stephen Leacock Museum in Orillia, where just about everyone in town knows Lauretta.

Munsch has sold 31 million volumes since the first, Mud Puddle, debuted in 1979. But the route to success has not been smooth for this native of Pittsburgh, Pa., who now lives in Guelph.

At 57, Munsch has battled manic depression, recovered from an addiction to alcohol and still fights obsessive-compulsive tendencies. "Everybody has things they have to deal with," he says. "Our lives are a deck of cards that we get dealt."

Youngsters have to contend with conflicts and issues that may appear trivial to adults, but are central to their lives. And Munsch captures these struggles, drawing on his constant contact with children and powerful memories.

"I used to get upset when people said I was a pretty happy kid," he says. "I remember being a little kid and looking in the mirror and saying, 'I want to remember that I was NOT happy.' And I think that has helped my writing.

"A lot of adults write relentlessly happy books about childhood . . . and little kids find them hard to deal with."

Munsch says his books -- Thomas's Snowsuit, I Have to Go, Mortimer and dozens more -- "are about things kids find interesting."

They also put their young protagonists in an unaccustomed position of power. Authoritarian teachers and controlling parents are always, relentlessly, one-upped.

"It's comic relief for being at the bottom of the family pyramid," the author says.

All the stories are inspired by children -- including his own. Julie, now 26, is the heroine of Makeup Mess; Andrew, 22, was the star of Andrew's Loose Tooth; and Tyya, 17, wants her dad to buy junk food at the grocery store in Something Good.

A knack for raconteurship emerged decades ago when Munsch, who grew up in a family of nine kids, was working in a day care. He had spent seven years studying to be a Jesuit priest, "only to find out I was lousy priest material."

These days, he gives about a dozen shows annually, and 50-odd drop-in visits -- done for free -- to schools in Canada and the U.S.