The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales to tell her story by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith is a hilarious collection of fractured fairly tales, including  tales such as Chicken Licken, The Really Ugly Duckling, Little Red Running Shorts, Cinderumpelstiltskin, The Other Frog Prince, Jack's Bean Problem, The Tortoise and the Hair, The Princess and the Bowling Ball, and The Stinky Cheese Man. These comical stories have many elements of fairy tales, but the events are altered to make the stories comical.

The book as a whole has little traditional organization,which gives it a whimsical feel, as do the altered events in the stories. The "organization" itself adds to the hilarity of the book by having the title page labelled "TITLE PAGE",  forcing you to turn the book upside down to read the dedication, forgetting the table of contents only to make it fall down and squish the characters of "Chicken Licken", and having the Wolf and Red Riding Shorts walk out of their story because the narrator told their story for them, only to leave the third page of their story blank. I also enjoyed the abrupt endings to stories like"The Really Ugly Duckling" and "The Other Frog Prince" in which the outcome is the exact opposite to what you expect. I loved how the Hen would interrupt the story to demand that she be allowed to tell her story, how the Giant made up his own story from snippets of various fairly tales, and how Jack told the Giant a never ending story where the print continued to get smaller and smaller. The print itself is very exaggerated, from huge in some places to tiny in others, which adds to the comedy and expression of the book.

The illustrations also provide a quirkiness that compliment the stories effectively. The pictures are very unusual, the characters have grossly exaggerated features that make them odd-looking, and the mood that the pictures convey is twisted and dark. The illustrator makes use of texture and shading to make the pictures look almost 3D and sometimes layers different media such as paper, fabric or other objects to create a random, haphazard sort of feeling.

I really loved this book because it reminded me of all the fairy tales I used to hear and read as a kid, only with a new light shed on them. Although I don't see myself in the stories, I see my childhood and remember what it was like to be a child. I remember how as children, no one really took things very seriously and fun was always the main goal. To me, this book epitomizes childhood because it is carefree and pretty much anything goes. The book shows a great use imagination and encourages children (and adults) to use their imagination when predicting what will come next.

I feel that is an important book for me to read as a future teacher because it reminds me that even though I will be rushing around, trying to get all of the curriculum outcomes covered, and trying to fill young minds with as much knowledge as possible, it is still important to cut loose, be silly and have some fun in the classroom. Children love being silly and having fun, so by having some "no strings attached" fun time will help them respond more readily. I would expect my teachers to make things fun if I was a child, so I should give them the opportunity to have some fun and just be kids. This book would be a great way to unwind, bring out the fun side of life and have a laugh or two.