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Readers are told that if they cannot say something nice about someone, �change the guy�s name to Donkey or Squid." With a gentle and non-threatening way, he tells young readers not to believe everything they seen on television. He does this very ingeniously in the story �Frog�s New Shoes� in which we encounter a frog who is taken in by a cool commercial featuring new skateboard shoes. He goes out and buys the shoes, imitates what he saw on television, and naturally is wiped out. The moral: �Everyone knows frogs can�t skateboard, but it�s kind of sad that they believe everything they see on TV.� Children are sure to remember this helpful advice much more easily after reading this fable, than to simply be told by an adult. In another story (my personal favorite), �Straw & Matches�, we meet two characters who cannot agree on a fair way to play. Matches always wants the advantage, and although straw keeps suggesting other games, Matches always finds a way to play unjustly. Moral: �Don�t play with Matches.� Other pieces of advice subtly presented in this book are: some things we do not talk about at the dinner table, always call home when you will be late, and do not blame others for your mistakes, among others.
The illustrations are truly colorful and appealing. They might seem familiar to students who have read other Scieszka/Smith works such as Math Curse, and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. The book is oversized and the cover is colorful and inviting. It features many of the characters one will come to meet upon reading the book. The characters are presented in a very imaginative and humorous manner. Lane Smith manages to create a very surly squid, and an incredibly interesting dinner table where Hand, Foot and Tongue will dine and discuss whose job is toughest. BeefSnakStik is presented as a very proud being, and when we read the story, we see that the story and the illustrations cannot be separate from each other.
Scieszka, Jon. 1998. Squids will be squids. New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc.
ISBN 0-67088135-X. |
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