The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

Story

The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales is a collection of short stories like no other! For starters, the stories are told by Jack (you may have heard of his famous beanstalk), with frequent interruptions from a host of other characters. Familiar-sounding tales are retold with strange and funny new twists. Meet The Really Ugly Duckling, Cinderumplestiltskin, and the rather indignant Little Red Hen, who would quite like to be on more than three pages, thank you very much.

Why we chose it

Hilarious, surreal, twisted and silly - fairy tales as you’ve never heard them before. A wild re-imagining of some of the best know traditional tales.

Where it came from

When author Jon Scieszka first saw illustrator Lane Smith’s interpretation of his Big Bad Wolf, he thought “Oh! That's what he would look like. This will be perfect.” The two of them have worked together on many books, including this one! Scieszka (pronounced SESH-ka) was a teacher and a decorator before becoming a full-time writer. He tries to write books that mess around with familiar stories – like these rewritten faiytales.

Where it went next

The Stinky Cheese Man has been read by many children – and parents – since it was published. It has won numerous awards, including the Caldecott Honor and the New York Times Best Illustrated Book award.

Associated stories

In 2002, a special 10^th anniversary edition was released, with a bonus story on the dust jacket: “The Boy Who Cried Cow Patty”.

Another popular favourite written and illustrated by Scieszka and Smith is The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs.