Squids Will Be Squids (Picture Puffins)
by Jon Scieszka
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jon ScieszkaIllustrator: Lane Smith
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-05-26
ISBN: 0142500402
Number of pages: 48
Publisher: Puffin
Book Reviews of Squids Will Be Squids (Picture Puffins)
Book Review: Very droll
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't really understand the reviews here: firstly, who says that "children's books" are only for children? If you (the adult) enjoyed it, seems like money well-spent to me. Secondly, there seems to be a large number of humor-challenged adults and children. My wife and I (who are not children) think it is funny, and so does our two year old son, who also LOVES Cowboy and Octopus, which has the same sort of off-kilter sensibility. The comments that the "morals are not appropriate" are really strange to me -- the morals are the punchlines to what are extended jokes (which are funny, because the authors are quite observant).
Summary of Squids Will Be Squids (Picture Puffins)
Sure we'd all love to be able to go around telling stories about all the weird, scary, and just-plain-annoying people that we know. But the truth is, no one likes a gossip. Here, the irrepressible Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith have found a way around that problem-they just make like Aesop and change all the people to animals or food, add a moral to each story, and call the stories fables!
With tales like "Little Walrus," in which too much of the truth is a dangerous thing, the cautionary "Slug's Big Moment," wherein Slug is so caught up in herself that she doesn't see the steamroller behind her, and "Straw and Matches," which illustrates quite clearly why you should never play with matches (because they cheat), the eighteen fables in this uproarious collection are sure to delight readers both young and old.
Every once in a while a book crosses our desks that makes us sit quietly delighted--except for a few squeaks of unmitigated joy--and this oversized, energized, stylized, highly prized book of fables is one of them. Jon Scieszka has a simple philosophy of the fable: "If you can't say something nice about someone, change the guy's name to Donkey or Squid." After all, the alleged Aesop did it. Squids Will Be Squids offers lessons such as "Everyone knows frogs can't skateboard, but it's kind of sad that they believe everything they see on TV." Sure, it's goofy, but it's also saying to kids, "Don't believe everything you see on TV." In "Duckbilled Platypus vs. Beefsnakstick," the bragging platypus and his beefy buddy teach us "Just because you have a lot of stuff, don't think you're so special." Of course, there is nothing heavy-handed here--morals such as "He who smelt it, dealt it" and "Elephants never forget, except sometimes" satirically prance amid the more heartfelt snippets of sagacity.
Scieszka and illustrator Lane Smith are unparalleled in their eccentricity and unrelenting in their boyish, twisted-yet-innocent zeal. In co-creations from The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales to The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs to Math Curse, Scieszka's wacko sense of humor and Smith's quirky, always gorgeous artwork thrillingly congeal in Molly Leach's creative, exuberant design. We see many picture books that are better suited for adults than kids, but this fine specimen is truly meant for goofballs of all ages. (Click to see a sample spread. Illustration © 1998 Lane Smith, reproduced with permission of Viking, a division of Penguin Putnam.) (All ages) --Karin Snelson
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