The Stinky Cheese Man is a postmodern deconstruction of classic fairy tales, weaving bits of them into a hilarious and somewhat subversive new book. In the beginning, we see bright red text emphasizing the voice of the Little Red Hen, shrill and obtrusive in contrast to the calm black text of the narrator, Jack. In a typical postmodern twist, the character who was to be perceived as virtuous in the initial version of the fairy tale is now seen as a moralizing, finger-wagging pain (a child’s view of the grown up who is always telling them what to do). Poor Little Red Hen- in the postmodern Scieszka version, her virtuous hard-working pluckiness is turned against her – she is too demanding. Instead of teaching the child morals, this postmodern picture book sympathizes with the child and pokes fun of authority. As for the narrator, Jack- he never seems quite trustworthy with his pointy hat and pointy teeth. Just another twist on the ‘who can you trust?’ postmodern deconstruction.
Turn a few pages and you’ll see the first story of Chicken Licken ends with Table of Contents falling on everyone and squashing them. Indeed, the text appears to be falling off the page, with one of the titles- ‘The Boy Who Cried Cow Patty’- never appearing in the book because presumably it was lost when it fell out of the contents. And that sets the stage for how unbalanced the stories in the book are to become. It tells us: get ready for a rough ride!
The masterful illustrations are central to the stories. We see this on the page in which the turtle is racing the hare/hair. A large round vertical boulder in a mossy color is surmounted by many rounded turtles with clocks on their shells, representing their slow movement through time. The big round hill represents monotony: time feels endless. A continuous curling lock of hare/ hair meandering over both pages adds to the sense of infinity.
In the title story, the Gingerbread Man is replaced by a Stinky Cheese Man and no one wants to chase him. Even the text departs from ordinarily horizontal fashion and is wavy as if reacting to the stench.
The illustrations have dark murky backgrounds. Perhaps this is because it causes us some distress to upend the fairy tales that are a somewhat sacred part of our cultural history. We laugh, but laughter contains an element of uncertainty. I love this book, but it does leave me with some uncertainty. As a Mom, I can relate to that Little Red Hen and I’m not sure I want her to be eaten! (Spoiler alert: she gets eaten by the giant in the end.) Similarly, the child might find some satisfaction in her demise (she’s finally quiet), but also some discomfort (yeah, Mom can be annoying but she’s still Mom and I need her). But whether it leaves you smug or uncertain, this is a book that makes you laugh and think and it’s hard to forget. That it is so powerful is no accident- it’s a result of the deliberate choices made by an excellent writer and illustrator.
- Goodreads rating – 4.19
- REVIEW – Suzanne LaPierre