The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka
- kmayusd
- Aug 2, 2019
- 2 min read
Romance & Poetry
Evaluation of Book
The Gingerbread Man has become the Stinky Cheese Man in this hilarious book by Jon Scieszka. In this book, The Stinky Cheese Man, Scieszka reworks ten familiar fairy tales that readers will love to compare to the traditional versions. Through the stories the readers are introduced to the traditional fairy tale characters with a twist.
The layout is quite unusual and make fun of the classic fairy tales which older elementary students will love. The caricature like illustrations dominate the page using darker colors in an effort to show their “twisted” side. These are not your traditional sweet fairy tale illustrations.
Even the text is nontraditional. Working with the illustrations the text is playful and fun and complements the story. The sizes and styles of the text vary in support of the story on a particular page. Chicken Licken finds that instead of the sky falling it is actually the Table of Contents. Other pages with crazy text include the upside down Dedication Page and in Jack’s story when the text is repetitive.
Through this story Scieszka also educates readers about book features. By making fun of pages like the dedication page, title and contents page he introduces these terms and the concepts of these pages. It makes it a wonderful book to use in teaching readers about the parts that make up a book.
Response
I love this book. I have used it with students when comparing versions of fairy tales. It always makes them laugh and is a great way to remind students of the important parts of a book when they are writing their own books.
Conclusion
This book will become a reader’s favorite with its humor and illustrations of familiar fairy tales. It will be most appropriate for children who are familiar with the traditional tales and therefore best enjoyed by upper elementary students. This funny book is a must read for all!
Citation
Scieszka, J., & Smith, L. (1992). The Stinky cheese man. New York: Penguin Books.
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