StinkyReview




	The Stinky Cheese Man & Other Fairly Stupid Tales

		This is another one of Jon Scieszka�s work in which he adds his signature style to the stories we are already familiar with. In this book, we see parodies of tales such as �The Ugly Duckling� (Here titled, �The *Really Ugly* Duckling�), a combination of Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin (Cinderumpelstiltskin), Little Red Running Shorts, and many others. The parts of a book are satirized when The Little Red Hen complains about the title page, the lazy narrator, illustrator, and author, and even the ISBN on the


back cover of the book ("Who is this ISBN guy?"). Despite the fact that the book is composed of short stories, readers are entertained by subplots that are scattered throughout the book. For example, The Little Red Hen keeps trying to tell her story and Jack The Narrator is worried about the Table of Contents falling and pages being upside down. There is yet another story hidden under the cover of the dustjacket, �The Boy Who Cried Cow Patty� and this was released on the 10-year anniversary edition of the book. This book has received numerous recognitions. Some examples are: The Texas Bluebonnet Award, the 1994 Rhode Island Children�s Book Award, and it is also a Caldecott Honor book, due to its wonderfully creative illustrations. Adults and children have grown to love the way the author brings his characters to life by giving them very unique personalities and having them address the audience directly. The main similarity between this book and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is the comical way in which the author changes the classic tales and creates his own new ones. In both of his works, we see the characters speak to the audience in a very familiar and friendly way. The characters in The Stinky Cheese Man even talk to characters from different stories and this results in very amusing results. Only in these books can readers witness Little Red Riding Shorts and the wolf getting after Jack for telling the story ahead of time. Only in this unique style can we see a wolf who catches a cold and accidentally kill two pigs. Another similarity between these books is that they have been illustrated by Caldecott Honor illustrator, Lane Smith. It is obvious in the illustrations, that Mr. Smith possesses an equal amount of creativity and talent as Mr. Scieszka and when the two work together, there is no denying that the results are instant classics! Click here to read an excerpt from the Texas Bluebonnet Award page on this book. Scieszka, Jon. 1992. The stinky cheese man and other fairly stupid tales. New York: Viking Penguin. ISBN: 0-590-47676-9.

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