SuitabookReworking familiar stories
Ten familiar fairy tales are rewritten with altered names, events and combinations, including versions of the Gingerbread Man, Cinderella and the Ugly Duckling.
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Book details
Jon Scieszka - Author
Lane Smith - Author
John Glore - Author
Expect a lively collection of recognisable fairy-tale rewritings rather than one continuous plot. Characters and stories overlap, while page furniture, typography and illustrations become comic parts of the storytelling.
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales is the ultimate in fractured fairy tales. Not only do the characters create their own stories, they also design the structure of the book itself. Classic fairy tales are deconstructed and rewritten with different but recognizable names, such as The Princess and the Bowling Ball, The Really Ugly Duckling, The Tortoise and the Hair and Chicken Licken. These stories and their characters intersect and create a mish-mash of narratives. Scieszka also mocks the conventions of books in general; the title page, dedication, and even the public information page have all been deconstructed. For example, Scieszka sneaks in the line “Anyone caught telling these fairly stupid tales will be visited, in person, by the Stinky Cheese Man” on the publication data page.
Book Brief
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Sign in for personalised guidanceExpect a lively collection of recognisable fairy-tale rewritings rather than one continuous plot. Characters and stories overlap, while page furniture, typography and illustrations become comic parts of the storytelling.
Ten familiar fairy tales are rewritten with altered names, events and combinations, including versions of the Gingerbread Man, Cinderella and the Ugly Duckling.
The title page, dedication, contents page, publication information and typeface are treated as active parts of the comic experience, while stories intersect and disrupt one another.
Some humour involves sarcasm, name-calling and deliberately “stupid” or absurd twists. The unusual illustrations and layouts may also feel confusing if a reader expects conventional fairy-tale storytelling.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: some draft conclusions still depend on unresolved evidence.
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