"Jon Scieszka," writes a critic in Children's Books and Their Creators, "enters classic fairy tales, turns them upside down, and exits with a smirk." In works such as The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!, The Frog Prince, Continued, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, and Math Curse, Scieszka and his collaborator/artist friend Lane Smith bring a postmodern sense of absurdity and a satiric edge to a classic category of writing. They take away the sense of easy familiarity and boredom that sometimes surrounds modern perceptions of the fairy tale genre. "What remains," the Children's Books and Their Creators contributor concludes, "is hilarious buffoonery within these energetic, yet sophisticated parodies."

The fact that Scieszka's parody plays to a more mature audience has astounded some critics. His works--sold as picture books intended for beginning readers--are equally funny to older children and young adults who...