Review by Guinevere09 -- Sigfried’s Smelly Socks!

[Kristy Khem]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Sigfried’s Smelly Socks!" by Len Foley.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Sigfried’s Smelly Socks is a humorous children’s story written and illustrated by Len Foley. Sigfried the narrator, begins by asking readers what is making the book smell so bad and then proceeds to describe different smelly things on each of the pages that follow, including a rotten banana and his dog’s urine. Sigfried then reveals that his pile of unwashed socks were the smelliest of all the things listed previously. He starts describing his smelly socks, then went on to describe a series of more disgusting items in the book. Sigfried finally agrees to wash his dirty socks but the story ends with another gross surprise.

I liked that some of the sentences in this book rhymed with each other as this will make it more appealing for children to read it. The fonts used are large, simple and spaced well so each page can be read effortlessly. I especially liked that the author left two pages to awaken the child’s imagination. On one page he circled an area and described that it contained something smelly but that he could not see it. On another page, he drew a gray smudge and stated that he had no idea what it was but it smelled awful. Children can surely have a few guesses here.

However, for a children’s book, I found that some of the words used are not common, for example, ‘kraut’ and ‘sow lard.’ Children may not know what these things are. Furthermore, even if this book is being read to children by an adult, the meaning of these words are difficult to explain to youngsters. The second thing I did not like was that the plot did not build up to an interesting or educative conclusion. After describing Sigfried’s socks, the book simply went on portray a bunch of other smelly things and then humorously ended. It seems like the point of it all was to simply describe smelly and dirty items to children.

The illustrations in the book are appealing and colorful. I appreciate the mix of animated sketches such as the characters in the story and real imagery such as the baked beans and ketchup stains. Unfortunately, I found two unknown characters in the story who were pictured but not introduced to readers. On the second page of the story where Sigfried mentions the rotten banana and chewing gum, there are illustrations of two persons who were not mentioned in the text. Are these meant to represent readers? Is one of them an illustration of the author? These two unintroduced characters are irrelevant to the story and their presence is confusing. All of the other characters which were pictured in the book were introduced to readers such as Sigfried’s baby sister Piper, his brother Sherman and his uncle Kato. His dog was even illustrated and from the text, readers know that is Oscar is Sigfried's pet.

Based on the large illustrations and brief sentences, I think that children between the ages of six to eight will find this worth reading. Younger children may benefit from looking at the pictures or having the story read to them but I do not think they will understand the meanings of some of the words by themselves.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars for good spelling and grammar as well as its large, colorful imagery. I cannot rate it more because of its vague plot, some unsuitable words for young children and unknown illustrated characters. This book had the potential to teach children about cleanliness but it was focused more on humor than education.

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Sigfried’s Smelly Socks!
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