A review by traveljenn
Leaping Beauty: And Other Animal Fairy Tales by Gregory Maguire

4.0

One of the reviews I read for this book said it was for children who were weened on The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka. It certainly is funny in the same way. The humor is based on language and not meanness. One of the titles of the short stories is “So what and the seven giraffes”. The title alone got me to snicker; the story is truly funny, it is about the king and queen of the baboons who have a baby boy who constantly says “So what?”. I suspect many of the jokes may be over the head of children and better enjoyed by adults. Some of the review websites recommended this book to children in second grade but I think that is too young. A second grader could read this book but would not get much of the humor. Not until fifth grade would most readers begin to understand all of the jokes. This would be great for a read aloud in a sixth or seventh grade class doing a unit on short stories.
http://www.jenniferstantonchapman.com/2012/05/09/book-review-leaping-beauty-by-gregory-maguire-31/