This book was an all-time favorite of mine as a kid, just because of its plain silly-ness! This irreverent book retells the classic fairy tales we all know and love, except with an unusual twist. The Ugly Duckling grows up to be just a really ugly duck. The Frog Prince is really just a regular frog who tricks a princess into kissing him. The story of the Tortoise and the Hare is really about a race between a tortoise running and a rabbit growing his hair. And the list goes on. As the inside of the dust cover says, this book has "10 complete stories! 25 lavish paintings! 56 action-packed pages. 75% more than those old 32-page 'Brand-X' books. New! Improved! Funny! Good! Buy! Now!"
In addition to the pure entertainment that children (and adults!) get out of hearing the classics told all wrong, the format of this book is very unique and further lures readers into the stories. Our narrator, Jack, pays no mind to how a book is "supposed" to be. Every page looks different. The font changes sizes. Sometimes the words are upside down or out of order. Characters sneak into other stories (the Giant from the top of the beanstalk eats the Little Red Hen!).
On top of all of that, the illustrations of this book are great! A mix between odd drawings and collages, each page has a very unique look to it (and unique is probably an understatement).
I'll finish up with this: while this book is a must-read for all children, it has absolutely no point or morals. It's just a great laugh, and a great way to get kids to realize that all books are NOT created equally!
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