3 out of 4 stars
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Sigfried’s Smelly Socks by Len Foley is a funny children’s picture book written mostly in rhyming couplets for ages between 3 and 7 years old. Sigfried’s Smelly Socks tells the story of why the book stinks, and it’s not just the socks.
Foley uses mixed media, combining comedic drawings of Sigfried and his family members with photographs of actual items like a banana or a pizza slice as potential reasons for the book’s smell.
Sigfried’s Smelly Socks does not shy away from the gross. For example, a yellow stain on one page is where his dog Oscar peed. Another smell is because Sigfried’s baby sister Piper used a page to wipe her behind after a diaper disaster.
After reading a list of smelly culprits, Sigfried’s socks make their grand appearance, and they are not a pretty sight. Sigfried’s socks are the stars of the stink as Foley writes “nothing compares to the other smell that burns the hairs on my head. It’s from a pile of unwashed socks I keep hidden beneath my bed.”
Foley describes the colorful pile of socks, and each color boasts a different smell. And none of them are fragrant as flowers. “My orange socks smell like rotten cabbage,” Foley writes. “And my blue socks smell like skunk feet.” And the list continues through another half a dozen colors of socks.
At under 30 pages and with its rhyming text, Sigfried’s Smelly Socks is a book that adults can have fun reading to their children. There are several opportunities to make funny faces as readers encounter photographs of ketchup and mustard spills as well as spaghetti that does not look very appetizing. Sigfried’s Smelly Socks climaxes with a hilarious bit as Sigfried promises to wash his socks.
What I liked about Sigfried’s Smelly Socks is the fact that it puts readers in the story by telling them from the outset to “go on and take a whiff.” I give the author credit for not toning down the smells and giving readers the visual. When Foley writes about “turnip clumps and blubber lumps,” he shows readers what they look like, and even uses arrows to point them out in case you miss them.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because of the creative way it delivers children’s comedy with a combination of zany art, simple photographs, and amusing rhymes. It engages readers with colorful language and pictures that make you wonder what stain is going to be on the next page.
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Sigfried’s Smelly Socks!
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