X's on the Eyes and Tongue Sticking Out is comedy coming from the mind of Mary Elias, a kindergarten teacher. She was taking her kids through a fairy tale literature block and realized that the chalkboard was getting more and more gruesome. Trying to elevate the concepts she resorted to drawing a normal cartoon depiction for death. Taking a class on stand-up comedy, Farm2Table Comedy, she took this concept to the stage. Geoff Neil, l the class's teacher, thought that the concept would come alive as a "not for children's book." Crystal Neill in fact did bring it to life with her clear strong illustrations. This is a fun book that will make you see the fairy tales a little bit differently.