Until Nickelodeon decided to revamp and update the children’s world in 1991, parents had no problem keeping up with their kids’ cartoon experiences. After all, Bug Bunny and Daffy Duck, the Flintstones, and Scooby-Doo (in so many incarnations) were all staples of a kid’s fantasy world.

As hectic as the world is for a parent, it’s hard to keep up with what shows they’ve watched or are watching when they’re growing up. Sad to say, television cartoons have served as babysitters and best friends for kids for decades.

However, Nickelodeon changed the package when they released Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren and Stimpy Show. Questionable content began to invade American living rooms and kids’ bedrooms in subtle ways. Doug and Rugrats tended to be wholesome fare -- though with strange ideas at times.

But there was just no excusing Ren and Stimpy’s behavior. They were gross and inelegant at best, and downright disgusting and offensive at worst. However, your kids thought they were hilarious. If you sat down and watched part of an episode with them, you’d swear they were way too young to be caught up in something as crass as that.

You’d probably be halfway right. But Nickelodeon took the stance that kids were a lot more intelligent -- and socially inelegant -- than most parents wanted to believe. So they created entertainment that took all those facets into account.

And man, what a whirlwind it’s been these past 16 years. My oldest son turns 25 soon, and my youngest is 10. I had five kids, and Nickelodeon has been a constant feature in my house from the beginning.

The problem with having kids, though, is that you have to work to provide for them. And to provide cable TV. So even though I tried to get in front of the TV to check out what they were watching, I couldn’t do it often enough. I watched some of the Nicktoons (as they came to be called) but not all of them because I didn’t have time.

Thankfully there’s a book out now that will catch you up almost overnight with the 30 cartoons that are airing on Nickelodeon. Jerry Beck (author of The Hanna-Barbera Treasury and The Art of Bee Movie and other works) has come out with his latest, Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons! — a monstrous compendium that is kid-intelligent and adult-friendly, and also heavy and sturdy enough to use as a shield or as a weapon. Not only that, but it was produced with the full support and cooperation of Nicktoons.

When I first pulled the book out of the box, I thought something had gone badly wrong. The book felt… squishy. I let go in a hurry and decided to finish opening the box to have a better look. Then I realized that the book was covered in green slime, another trademark of the network.