Rhyme Stew

An illustrated collection of fifteen parodies ranging from skewered nursery rhymes to epic slapstick sagas.

A quite contrary Mary ditches the garden and goes co-op. Ali Baba sheds the forty thieves for petrodollars and life at the Ritz. Haute couture becomes trés outré when the emperor dons his new clothes and takes to the slopes. There’s a fox loose in the house of Mother Goose, and it could only be the work of the Devlish Roald Dahl.

In a rich medley of nursery parodies, Dahl sets Once Upon a Time on a collision course with the contemporary, and nursery morals and morality come tumbling down. The high-born are humbled, the pure of heart are no match for the purely profit-minded, and only laughter keeps us happy ever after. Spiced with Quentin Blake’s best sardonic illustrations and laced with ribald humor and a wicked sense of social satire, Rhyme Stew is a delicious treat for all connoisseurs of the absurd.

Story List:
– Dick Whittington and His Cat
– St Ives
– A Hand in the Bird
– The Tortoise and the Hare
– The Price of Debauchery
– Physical Training
– The Emperor’s New Clothes
– A Little Nut-Tree
– The Dentist and the Crocodile
– Hot and Cold
– Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
– Hey Diddle Diddle
– Mary, Mary
– Hansel and Gretel
– Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), James and the Giant Peach (1961), Matilda (1988), and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories, poetry collections, and many other works. These delightfully disturbing tales have often adapted into hit films, helping further the legacy of tales that continue to make millions of readers – young and old alike – smile, shiver and shake today.