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Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals, Beastly Fables

Book Summary

Reviewed by Peter Lewis

These contemporary fables catch the dynamic duo of Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith up to their old warped tricks, though they're uncharacteristically flatfooted at times. The morals are more like demented tag lines, but with an undeniable, cockeyed humor. Smith's illustrations somehow turn things like a stick of beef jerky and a slice of toast into models of lamentable behavior.

Is It Any Good?

4

They specialize in subversion, the toppling of established order, the overthrow of rules and order and all that is sacred. Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith are revolutionaries, if not nihilists, and they are really good at it. Fables are the target here, but they are only poked fun at, not disemboweled, which undercuts the team's typical cruel nimbleness (and they even get a little formulaic -- but only a little, and not painfully so).

But don't be surprised if you see readers filing their teeth into points after a session with this impious collection. The artwork is not a little sinister, passing strange and decidedly splendid in a dark sort of way, and Molly Leach's book design -- as much a signature of Scieszka and Smith's books as their words and pictures -- is outlandishly active and elegant.

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