The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales

Title: The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales
Author: Jon Scieszka
Illustrated: Lane Smith
Published: Scholastic Inc, New York
Date: 1992
Summary: This a book that has a collection of "almost fairy tales" that give the tales a hilarious twist.
Age Level: Elementary (3-4)
Strengths: I think the pictures were very interesting, yet strange because it looked like it was created by paper. However, it made the story very funny. I loved Jack the narrator and the different dialogues within the different stories. It gave each classic tale a modern, yet ironic twist in the story. For example, people would normally chase the gingerbread man, but no one wanted to chase the Stinky Cheese Man because he was smelly, and he showed off. Also, Cinderella was supposed to end up marrying the prince and live happily ever after, but in the story Cinderumpelstilskin, she doesn't even bother to guess the short man's name and ends up still living with her stepmothers house and.
Concerns: While this was a funny book I noticed that some of the pictures made no sense when connecting it to the text. Students might get confused by this if they do not know what is going on or if they do not know the original tales. The size of the text is also unpredictable, because it could go from small font on one page, to large font on the next.
Comments: I think older students would really love this book because it gives a funny twist on classic tales, and they would also understand the differences and the silliness between the original and the funny tales.