Something Stinks!

by Jonathan Fenske, Jonathan Fenske (Illustrator)

Overview

From the creator of the award-winning A Pig, a Fox, and a Box comes a silly picture book about a skunk looking for the source of a terrible smell!

Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor-winning author-illustrator Jonathan Fenske's appealing illustration style and clever text make this intriguing book a must-have for every young reader's shelf.

In this delightfully funny picture book, an awful stink is invading the nostrils of its furry protagonist, a clueless skunk. Skunk is ready to sniff out the source of the stench, but where could it be coming from? Find out in this foul-smelling story—just be sure to hold your nose!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781524793104
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	06/15/2021
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.31(w) x 9.31(h) x 0.34(d)
Lexile:	AD470L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jonathan Fenske (he/him) is a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor-winning author and illustrator who has created several Penguin Young Readers, including Love Is in the Air; Guppy Up!; Woodward and McTwee; A Pig, a Fox, and a Box; A Pig, a Fox, and Stinky Socks; We Need More Nuts!; and Please, No More Nuts! He is also the author-illustrator of I Will Race You Through This Book! and After Squidnight. He lives in Simpsonville, South Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

PRAISE FOR SOMETHING STINKS!

"This metafictive title engages multiple senses and is comedy gold...Side-splittingly smelly." —Kirkus 

"Those who laughed themselves silly at Shea’s Who Wet My Pants? will find this similarly snickeringly rewarding." —BCCB

From the Publisher

2021-05-05
A skunk tries to track down the source of a foul odor.

“Pee-yew!” says Skunk, nose pinched, jaw clenched, and eyes squinting against the “something [that] STINKS” in the air. Breaking the fourth wall, Skunk asks readers directly if they can smell it, too, then tells them they “sure are LUCKY” not to be able to smell it. In answer to a rhetorical “How stinky is it?” Skunk—with the help of a stink-loving fly—makes comparisons to other smells: rotten sandwiches, moldy cheese, and even “sweaty, dirty, crusty socks.” This “terrible stench” is the smelliest of all, but Skunk assures readers that their “good friend Skunk” will get to the bottom of things. But as the skunk looks “in every corner” and “crack” (pulling a pair of tighty whities from the gutter), the smell gets “WORSE.” What—or who—could possibly be the culprit? (Hint: It wasn’t the undies.) Fenske’s boldly outlined cartoon characters pop off the page, especially when he expertly plays with depth of field to break the fourth wall. The simple white backgrounds help draw attention to the amorphous, brown cloud of stink that lingers on just about every page. That the cloud remains invisible to Skunk will make readers feel like they’re in on the joke (along with the deadpan fly). Though Skunk’s investigation lacks resolution from their perspective, the slightest hint of Skunk’s butt cheekily confirms readers’ suspicions. This metafictive title engages multiple senses and is comedy gold. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Side-splittingly smelly. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews