Scieszka and Smith are pointing fingers, having a good time doing it, and giving young readers a deeper understanding of human nature in the process. Their Stinky Cheese Man, published in 1992, won a Caldecott Honor medal. A lot of kids out there must really like what they do. Except for three of the 18, the characters in their short stories are from the animal, amphibian, and insect world. Squids and slugs are well known as rather spineless creatures.
Frogs are famous for their gullibility.
And anyone who has ever spent time with a duckbilled platypus will tell you they are insufferable braggarts. The traits these sly tales pinpoint include procrastination, lack of loyalty to friends, avoiding responsibility, making excuses, ignorance, and gullibility. Scieszka, son of an elementary school principal, grew up reading MAD magazine, and he trusts the intelligence of kids. He understands that most of them want to read something as entertaining and smart as what they see in other media, and he writes with that in mind. Will Be Squids , check the end of the book where they tell what happened to Aesop.