Product Description

A collection of new and wacky fables with fresh morals, which are about all kinds of bossy, sneaky, funny and annoying people. A general moral offered by the book is, "If you are planning to write fables, don't forget to change people's names and avoid places with high cliffs".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #615357 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 48 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
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. --Karin Snelson

Customer Reviews

A charming read
This is a charming read, and will make any adult
with a fun-loving side chuckle and nod in agreement with some of the 'tales'. The thinly-veiled stories and morals are fun to read. It is such a shame this book is so quickly read. That's why I gave it only 4 out of 5. I would have loved there to be more. Some of the morals are a little too cryptic, however, and left me thinking "uhm, what was I supposed to learn?". But on the whole, a good fun book, which makes a good present.

Still Slightly Unsure of This One
The stories in this collection are very simple and very simply told. They are less re-working of Aesop’s fables than using animals to make points about some common problems of school children nowadays. In doing this they are often funny. I enjoyed most of these stories, very often those that don’t actually have a moral of any worth (e.g. elephants never forget except sometimes).
Admittedly it did take me some time to get used to (or accept?) the stories for what they are and to appreciate the pictures. Meanwhile I find the stories outrageous, fun or thought-provoking. Kids will love them I’m sure.
The illustrations (“All the paintings in this book are actually illustrations”) are of a rough and ready kind, with a slightly naïve touch in their being out of proportion and with modern touches (e.g. the elephant wears a propeller cap).