Meet Mr. Mosquito, drawn from a Gypsy story. He's cantankerous and nasty enough to raise belly laughs along with the eyebrows of the polite. In a story inspired by Australian bush tales, we meet Ella and Bella, two hilarious (and flatulent) sisters. Angelina's earthy wit is memorialized in a story from Swahili tradition.

The eight stories in Rude Stories have roots from Japan to Canada, from Africa to Eastern Europe, but they all share a sense of irreverence, and, because they are the work of a true storyteller, they beg to be read aloud, told aloud and shared. Francis Blake's hilarious askew art brings the characters to life in this spicy stew of international stories to satisfy every child's appetite for the deliciously absurd.