Module 6: Picture Books
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
Author: Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith
Book Summary:
The Stinky
Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales is a book of “fractured” fairy-tales. The
authors reinvent popular fairy tales such as the gingerbread man (renamed the
Stinky Cheese Man) and Little Red Riding Hood (renamed Little Red Running
Shorts). The fairy tales, or fairly stupid tales rather, have obvious endings
and are not stereotypically happy. The narrator also has trouble keeping the
book going. He is interrupted by the Little Red Hen, he ruins the story of
Little Red Running Shorts before Red and the wolf can tell it, and he almost gets
eaten by a giant. The Stinky Cheese Man
is an inventive reiteration of fairy tales.
APA Book
Reference:
Scieszka, J., & Smith, L. (1992).The stinky cheese man and other fairly stupid tales. New York, NY:
Penguin Books USA Inc.
Impressions:
There have been discussions in
class about what makes a “good” picture book. Many of my classmates argued that
a picture book was considered “good” when the pictures can tell a story without
words. I tend to agree with them, but not in terms of this particular book. While
the illustrations are amazing, I think the wit and the humor come from the
words in the story. However, sometimes the words become part of the picture
when the Table of Contents falls and squashes everybody, for example. I would
still classify this book as a “good” picture book despite the fact that the
pictures cannot speak for themselves.
Also, maybe the Scieszka and Smith
pushed the boundaries of “good” picture books considering the book is basically
a satire of book making anyway. The book starts on the end page, the Table of
Contents is in a story, and there are upside down and blank pages.
Professional
Review:
Burns, M.M. (1992). The
stinky cheese man and other fairly stupid tales. Horn Book Magazine. 68(6). 720.
“Scieszka and Smith have done it again! Blend "Saturday
Night Live" with "Monty Python," add a dash of Mad magazine with
maybe a touch of "Fractured Fairy Tales" from the old "Rocky and
Bullwinkle" show, and you have an eclectic, frenetic mix of text and
pictures with a kinetic display of typefaces, rivaling the fireworks extravaganza
on the Fourth of July. Even the page arrangement is unconventional, so that the
entire book is a spoof on the art of book design, the art of the fairy tale,
and whatever other art one might wish to parody. The individual tales are part
of a zany whole in which the Little Red Hen, a kvetch if ever there was one,
reappears periodically to complain about the dog, cat, and mouse who refused to
help her plant her wheat. She and Jack (of beanstalk country) serve as a kind
of running commentary on this theater-of-the-absurd in picture-book format. The
concluding spread suggests that the annoying fowl gets her comeuppance — and
not one she expected. Individual tales, such as "The Princess and the
Bowling Ball," "The Really Ugly Duckling," or the title tale, "The
Stinky Cheese Man," can be extracted
for telling aloud — with great success. Who, after all, could resist a prince
with foresight enough to substitute his bowling ball for the traditional pea
under the feather mattresses to insure that he and his beloved live
"happily, though maybe not completely honestly, ever after"? In
addition, the collection includes "Chicken Licken" (newly revised),
"The other Frog Prince," "Little Red Running Shorts,"
"Cinderumpelstiltskin," and "The Tortoise and the Hair."
The farcical tone of the whole may carry this concoction to the attention of
primary schoolers, but it will enjoy its real success among middle-school
through senior-citizen audiences. Another masterpiece from the team that
created The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!(Viking).”
Library
Uses:
This book could be used in a program to encourage children to
rewrite their own version of popular fairy tales. It could also be read along
with the popular versions, and the children could compare and contrast.
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