Friday, December 5, 2008

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

Author: Jon Scieszka
Illustrator: Lane Smith
Year: 1992
Age Level: 4-8

Plot Summary: A collection of twisted fairly tales (or "fairly stupid tales") ranging from "The Ugly Duckling" to "The Gingerbread Man." Lane Smith's unique illustrations are well matched to the, shall we say, unusual stories. Besides the unusual stories, pages are out of order, text spills all over and characters go outside of their own stories.

My Rating: A-. Very funny, and the illustrations are crazy. My favorite story was about the ugly duckling and it was hilarrrrious. I think this book would be more fun for boys, but who knows. Maybe I'm stereotyping.

1 comment:

Professor Chaos said...

I love this book, it's one of the best ever! I can't remember if I recommended this one or not, but if I didn't I meant to, and everything else these two have ever done as well.

There's one you'd particularly enjoy called "Have You Seen Art?" about a kid who's lost in an art museum looking for his friend named Art. He asks people "Have you seen Art?" and they tell him all about the painting they're looking at, and he says "no, that's not Art," and moves on.

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is hilarious, and there are a few others, too that are very good. The art style is the same for most.

The Ugly Duckling was my favorite story, too. You're right, this humor appeals more to boys, but it works for girls, too. Seriously awesome book, I'm glad you liked it.

I'm 41 posts behind on this blog.... yikes.