|
Squids will be squids
Scieszka, Jon. 1998. Squids
will be squids: Fresh morals, beastly fables. Ill.
by Lane Smith. New York: Viking. ISBN:
067088135X.
By starting out with a "serious historical foreword" that gives a brief
history of the life of Aesop along with a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer
that the stories that follow are not about any actual acquaintances
of the author, the reader is given a hint of the eighteen wacky,
offbeat fables that will follow. Each fable contains main
characters not normally seen in mainstream folktales such as a
horseshoe crab, a tongue, and a BeefSnakStik. Each fable also
ends with a moral, but these are not the traditional morals many have
come to expect. The conclusion is a "very serious historical
afterword" that warns once again of the dire consequences of telling
fables without concealing names and faces of the accused.
In this collection, Scieszka has managed to put a twist on the genre of
folktales and modernize them in a unique way. Children will
identify with the various characters in the tales that tell of
friendships, relationships with parents, and annoying personality
traits. Scieszka's tell-it-like-it-is voice is able to convey
dialogue to which young people will be able to relate, and situations
that they will recognize such as the price that must be paid for
procrastination (Grasshopper Logic) and the consequences of being a
negative person (Deer, Mouse, Rabbit, and Squid). This is a book
that can be used as just a fun read, but it could also be used to break
the ice with children to talk about sensitive situations.
Lane Smith's illustrations do nothing but complement Scieszka's
sarcastic sense of humor. Some pictures seem to be collages while
others are more like paintings, but all use bold colors and images to
convey Scieszka's words. Only Smith could create a dinner party
for a hand, a tongue, and a foot and make it seem strangely alive, and
on the next page put a bossy BeefSnakStik in a tie as he proclaims that
he has beef lips. Scieszka and Smith are an interesting team that
take the random and obscure and make them work brilliantly.
|
