And what makes The Iron Giant even more extraordinary is that it's based on The Iron Man, one of those dire "works for children" by Ted Hughes, with gloomy woodcut illustrations - the sort of thing only earnest English teachers think children could possibly like outside the classroom.
And so, ever since family lawyers, traumatised parents, worried councillors and eventually even whistleblowers began telling me about dire social work practice across the county, I have tried to publicise the concerns they have raised.
When Afghanistan was largely cut off during its years of upheaval, the stockpile grew, and now, because of the dire economy, work that once was done solely by women and girls is being done by entire families.
At a sub-national level, where the needs of poor families and children are particularly dire, social work and protection services are provided by volunteers and untrained workers undertaking complex tasks without the necessary skills.
Orphaned at the age of 8, Wölfli spent his childhood in dire poverty, working as a hireling on farms, with little contact with eight older siblings.
Construction workers in particular are in dire need of work, as they were among the hardest hit by the collapse of the housing market.
But everything they saw was either tastefully renovated and beyond their budget — like a particularly stunning house in Red Hook on which they made an offer that was rejected — or in dire need of work they wouldn't be able to afford after making a down payment.
Yes, Labour's thinking on benefits is in dire need of work: it needs to develop arguments about universalism, the much-hyped but little-developed idea of a more contributory benefits system, and how to push the argument into areas so far untouched: between-jobs training, for example.
"At a time when there is an appetite and momentum for radical change in Scottish football, it is important that we learn lessons from this dire situation and work together to provide a platform for clubs to thrive and prosper within their means".
We don't know the extent of the problems women and their doctors encounter because doctors and patients are going to dire lengths to work around other people's religious beliefs and Catholic hospital prohibitions.
