The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

Bought this book for my nephew for Christmas. He absolutely loves it and finds it hilarious. Perfect.

This is a beautifully illustrated, rather surreal– and significantly altered – retelling of ten well known fairy tales. Not only the stories, but also the format of the book is turned upside down (in the case of the dedication page – quite literally!). The contents page is on page nine and comes crashing (again literally) into the ‘Chicken Licken’ story. Characters appear out of sequence, demanding that their stories be told NOW, and the narrator, Jack, interacts with the other characters. The size of the lettering changes throughout, and there are puns – e.g. ‘The Tortoise and the Hair’ where the rabbit claims he can grow his hair faster than the tortoise can run. Not all the stories are of equal quality – I thought the title story, ‘The Stinky Cheese Man’, was quite weak but ‘The Princess and the Bowling Ball’, ‘Cinderrumpelstiltskin, and ‘The Really Ugly Duckling’ were excellent.But the real pleasure in reading this book, is the superb illustrations. Children and adults alike will spend hours poring over every tiny detail. It is the pictures, much more that the stories, that make this a five-star book.I bought this book, because it looked like it could be a quite interesting quick read. I will keep it because of the illustrations.

If you've ever watched the film "Stepmom" with Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts, you'll remember the mom (Sarandon) reading this book to her son. It takes childhood stories and gives them a slightly different ending. My husband heard me reading it and came in to ask why I was telling the story wrong lol he was totally bemused when I showed him the book. Probably best for 8 or 9 year olds who know the original stories before you change the story.

Very funny and my children loved it.

If your kids love silly humour they’ll love this!

The stories in this book recognised as a fairly stupid tale which you will never be disappointed ‘cos they are really stupid. If not my boyfriend telling me he likes this book and wants to get one I wouldn’t read it for sure. Now I’m giving him the book for £6 lol jokes

I bought this for our 3yo daughter for a bedtime story because she loves anything stinky or fart related (lol) and I remembered this book from my own childhood. She absolutely loves it and it has become the new champion book, having dethroned 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea'.As an adult some of the tales are a little bizarre, but the kid seems to enjoy them so who am I to judge?I would recommend for anyone with a strange sense of humour - a great little compilation of stories for quirky folk.

If you're looking for a children's book that has a little bit of a random or wicked sense of humour, this is it. It's perfect for a child with a sense of humour that is older than his or her years.On the negative side, some of the language or assumptions are Americanized, but this doesn't detract from the book too much.One tip - explain to your child what a Table of Contents is before you start reading it.