Cheap Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals--Beastly Fables (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) Discount Review Shop
Scieszka, J., & Smith, L. (1998). Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh morals, beastly tales. New York: Puffin Books.
0142500402
A good break from or companion to Aesop's Fables. Squids Will Be Squids shares 18 silly fables that manage to be both relatable to kids and incorporate far-fetched ideas to amuse. The moral accompanying each story manages to be just the right amount of ridiculous to get kids laughing out loud. Issues explored including saving a huge history project to the last minutes, dealing with that squid-like friend who never agrees to games everyone else wants to play and figuring out who exactly caused that stink in the air.
The illustrations are fun and in similar style to Scieszka and Smith's other collaborations. As with The Stinky Cheese Man and Math Curse, the picturebook is heavy on the (HUGE) text and structured like a chapter book, so it can be a good transition to a first chapter book. If a teacher is looking for another Aesop stepping stone, Paul Rosenthal's Yo, Aesop! Get a Load of These Fables (1998) is an even longer grouping of modernized fables.
Activities to Do with the Book:
Students could write their own fables in response to the examples shown by Scieszka and Smith.
Since "Frog's New Shoes" considers the fact that ads cannot always be trusted, a teacher could use this to start a discussion on products children have bought and been disappointed by. This could even turn into a short lesson on writing letters to companies about truth in advertising. "Piece of Toast and Froot Loops" could trigger a discussion on healthy eating habits. Not that anyone would want to get too serious with this book.
Based off of the story "Rock, Paper, Scissors," a class could arrange to have a rock paper scissors championship during recess. A teacher could incorporate this into a lesson on odds in math class or into a discussion on teamwork.
This is a fun light read to encourage enjoyment, especially if a child has previously been forced to supper through a dryer version of Aesop's fables.
Favorite Quotes:
"This book, Squids Will Be Squids, is a collection of fables that Aesop might have told if he were alive today and sitting in the back of class daydreaming and goofing around instead of paying attention and correcting his homework like he was supposed to, because his dog ate it and he didn'ts= have time to run out and buy new paper and do it over again before his bus came to pick him up in the morning."
"My tentacles are too tired."
"He who smelt it, dealt it."
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"Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals--Beastly Fables (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)" Overview
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Contemporary fables with tongue-in-cheek morals address such topics as homework, curfews, and television commercials.
"Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals--Beastly Fables (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)" Specifications
Every once in a while a book crosses our desks that makes us sit quietly delighted--except for a few squeaks of unmitigated joy--and this oversized, energized, stylized, highly prized book of fables is one of them. Jon Scieszka has a simple philosophy of the fable: "If you can't say something nice about someone, change the guy's name to Donkey or Squid." After all, the alleged Aesop did it. Squids Will Be Squids offers lessons such as "Everyone knows frogs can't skateboard, but it's kind of sad that they believe everything they see on TV." Sure, it's goofy, but it's also saying to kids, "Don't believe everything you see on TV." In "Duckbilled Platypus vs. Beefsnakstick," the bragging platypus and his beefy buddy teach us "Just because you have a lot of stuff, don't think you're so special." Of course, there is nothing heavy-handed here--morals such as "He who smelt it, dealt it" and "Elephants never forget, except sometimes" satirically prance amid the more heartfelt snippets of sagacity.
Scieszka and illustrator Lane Smith are unparalleled in their eccentricity and unrelenting in their boyish, twisted-yet-innocent zeal. In co-creations from The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales to The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs to Math Curse, Scieszka's wacko sense of humor and Smith's quirky, always gorgeous artwork thrillingly congeal in Molly Leach's creative, exuberant design. We see many picture books that are better suited for adults than kids, but this fine specimen is truly meant for goofballs of all ages. (Click to see a sample spread. Illustration © 1998 Lane Smith, reproduced with permission of Viking, a division of Penguin Putnam.) (All ages) --Karin Snelson
Customer Reviews
Very droll - Narada - Princeton, NJ, USA
I don't really understand the reviews here: firstly, who says that "children's books" are only for children? If you (the adult) enjoyed it, seems like money well-spent to me. Secondly, there seems to be a large number of humor-challenged adults and children. My wife and I (who are not children) think it is funny, and so does our two year old son, who also LOVES Cowboy and Octopus, which has the same sort of off-kilter sensibility. The comments that the "morals are not appropriate" are really strange to me -- the morals are the punchlines to what are extended jokes (which are funny, because the authors are quite observant).
If You Like Spongebob . . . - loretta dunncarter - san francisco, ca
Classic, sarcastic humor. Excellent read for the older child who can understand and appreciate the absurd. Suitable for adults of all ages.
Jr. High Teachers, read it to your students. - Andrew D. Rowell - Durham, NC
Squids will be Squids is the most entertainingly-biting-for-adults kids book I have seen. Jr. High teachers, read it to your students. 18 one minute stories. Scathing against whining and complaining. Hilarious.
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