This frantic, insanely funny send-up of fairy tales presents nine little comic masterpieces, with a cast that includes "The Princess and the Bowling Ball," "The Other Frog Prince," "Little Red Running Shorts," and the malodorous title character, with a head made from a thick wheel of cheese, with bacon for a mouth and olives for eyes. You remember the cookie that everyone chased in the old folktale, “The Gingerbread Man”? At the end, the fox tricked the cookie and  ate it up. In this parallel story, the refrain goes, “Run run run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m the Stinky Cheese Man.” But instead of chasing him, the fox says, “Oh man! What is that funky smell?”

Everyone's having a bad day in this book, from Chicken Licken and company, who get squashed flat by the Table of Contents, to the irritable Little Red Hen, who grouses incessantly about her lack of story space. There’s “The Really Ugly Duckling,” no swan he, which concludes with, “Well, as it turned out, he was just a really ugly duckling. And he grew up to be just a really ugly duck.” All of this madness is held together by narrator Jack (of beanstalk fame) and Lane Smith’s spectacularly goofy collage paintings, which earned him a Caldecott Honor (silver medal).

Of the tens of thousands of picture books I’ve read since I was a child, I have two all-time favorites: Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are and this one. I never get tired of either book, and find something new and irresistible with each reading. Along with Scieszka and Smith’s equally manic and classic The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Stinky Cheese Man was the catalyst for a whole generation of children’s picture book parodies including Margie Palatini’s Piggie Pie and The Web Files. It’s truly a picture book for all ages; high school kids love this as much as younger ones.

Reading this book aloud will help you to develop your read-aloud chops. There are so many possibilities for using different voices, you’ll feel like you’re channeling Robin Williams or Jim Carrey. You are the reading role model for your children, so ham it up. You’ll notice your listeners rereading the stories inspired by your performance and acting out some of their favorite parts. Bring out some stinky cheese to celebrate the production.

THEMES: CHEESE. FAIRY TALES—SATIRE. HUMOROUS FICTION. PARODIES. PICTURE BOOKS FOR ALL AGES.

A READKIDDOREAD CLASSIC