Snow Man and the seven ninjas by Matt Cosgrove
Epic fail tales series. Scholastic, 2017. ISBN 9781743811696
(Age: 7+) Recommended. Matt Cosgrove's hilarious series Epic
fail tales are twisted classic fairy stories, reminiscent of
Roald Dahl's Revolting rhymes and the Fractured fairy
tales cartoons.
Being at home during the school holidays is boring, so the narrator
borrows and reads his sister's 'Snow White' storybook. He
alters the text by adding cut and pasted words, totally changes the
characters, includes witty asides and comments in speech bubbles and
invents humorous situations to make a crazy new story Snow Man
and the Seven Ninjas.
Just before Miss Bacon dies performing her juggling chainsaw act at
a talent show, she wishes for 'a monster made of snow with eyes as
red as blood, and muscles as big as the butt of a pig.' The little
monster magically appears and wins first prize. Hooked on the fame
of winning, little Snow Man exercised and grew stronger and
stronger, and he even developed a marvellous six-pack. Across town,
super dude checks in with his magic mirror, unfortunately. He calls
for the stunt man's help, promising him fifty dollars and a Chinese
take-away if he can slay the Snow Man. The super dude also threatens
the stunt man's pet goldfish and various methods of disposal are
illustrated - super cannon bowl or super kitty snack.
The stunt man's knife throwing act becomes quite confronting, as he
tries many ways to kill off the Snow Man; after the knives, lemon
juice in the eyes, he aims a Brussels sprout filled slingshot at him.
When Snow Man escapes to the home of the Seven Ninjas a new level of
craziness happens. He becomes their slave, someone to insult, as well
as rehearsing for his stage comeback.
Cosgrove's narrative uses silly rhymes, sarcastic dialogue, snappy
puns, with the amusing overwritten text; this radically changes the
original storyline. This is a laugh out loud story for younger
readers and for those familiar with the original, an out of the
ordinary fun fairy tale. His cartoons are funny and gross; they
often have layered levels of meaning.
As part of Middle Primary English lessons, students could develop
their own fractured fairy tales after reading Dahl's narrative poems
and Cosgrove's Epic fail tales.
Rhyllis Bignell