I really liked the concept of not only alternating but duelling stories, and I liked the way the art played along. And I liked the way the brother and sister eventually find a path they both like. However, the story itself ended up being not that exciting: it was very heavily gender-stereotyped and both of the two narrations seemed flatter and less interesting than the stories real kids come up with.

A fun, engaging idea. One young storyteller wants to create a typical princess fantasy complete with ponies and flowers and pretty dresses; the other wants a big, ugly monster and lots of battles! How will they tell the tale and arrive at "Happily ever after"? While the gender stereotypes are probably true for most audiences, I found the fact that the girl was all about the pretty-happy-love-story and the boy totally into the "dude" stuff (gross monster, fighting, etc.) was a bit irritating. The...

A book my 6 yr old as well as my twin 3 yr olds loved. A solid reading level 1 book, this cute story keeps all ages engaged with the bright colorful pictures and cute story. We loved the differences between boys and girls and how they fought over their choice of story topic. It was also nice to see the conflict resolution at the end with a compromise. A great addition to any children's library.

A "He Said - She Said" tale for young readers, in which a boy and girl must tell a fairy-tale together for a class project, Kevin O'Malley's Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude would undoubtedly make an engaging story-hour selection. The humorous back and forth between the two narrators, who are each appalled by the other's narrative, will produce some giggles, and the bright colors will hold the attention.Unfortunately, although I can see that this title will appeal to the age-group for which it i...

One of the more entertaining books I had to read in college, I admit. I know - reinforcing gender stereotypes, but there is some circumventing, too. Also kind of genius to have two different people illustrate this.

Hilarious book - one of my kids' all-time favorites. Perfect for writing units, for perspective, for girl-boy tensions, and for all-out laughs.

When two students with vastly different interests are forced to write a story together they manage to collaborate while maintaining their individual styles. This book looks like a typical fairy tale with the exception of the cover art. Open the front page and it quickly becomes apparent this is not your traditonal story. Two protagonists engaged in a school report partnership quickly engage the reader with their clear and satirical version of events. Boys who immediately groan when you show them...

This is what happens when you let a girl and a boy collaborate on a story. You get tenderhearted princesses, ponies, evil giants, and big dudes on motorcycles who rush into save the day and get rich on the gold thread the princess spins. But princesses these days aren’t content to sit back and spin gold thread while the big dudes on motorcycles get all the glory. Hell no. They hit the gym, pump some iron, and become warrior princesses. Hell yes. And then they kick the butts of the giants that ha...

This book received the Monarch Award last year as it was voted on by the children of Illinois. Together, a girl and boy must write a story together. Once upon a time there was ...a princess ...a cool muscle dude ...who loved all her beautiful ponies. ...who rode an awesome motorcycle. ...But a giant came and started stealing them! ...The dude came to fight the ugly, smelly giant with his mighty sword. ...She turned gold into thread while she cried for Buttercup, her favorite pony...Interesting e...

Format: Picture BookInterest Level: Grades 3-5In this book a boy and girl take turns telling a story. The girl starts the story with a princess and her ponies. While she tells the story boy interjects with his own comments until he finally can't stand it and takes over telling the story. This is a book that both boys and girls will enjoy. It's a fun book to read. This would be a good book to use to introduce and practice partner storytelling. One student starts a story and then their partner tak...

Clever whimsical "battle" between a princess and a "cool" motorcycle dude as each attempts to tell their version of a fairy tale. I read this aloud to students in kindergarten through the sixth grade and, as they say, "a good time was had by all." Even adults will delight in the wit expressed through the dueling characters dialogue.Illustrations are appealing. Hope to see more from this author in the near future!

This was a big hit with my ten and seven year old nephews and my four and seven year old nieces. I took it up to the lake house when they all were there, and they all loved it. The boys read and re-read it on their own, and the girls asked every adult willing to read them a story to read this book to them. I'll be grabbing the next book for next year's family vacation!

My students love this book. I really don’t. At all. One of my students chose this book as her library choice for the week and asked me to read it during choice time in the classroom. Only a few pages in, we had a crowd of listeners, several of whom had heard the story before and one who joyfully recited all of the words from memory. (And, for me, THAT was a joy because this particular child isn’t typically seen as a ‘reader’ in our classroom. But, this book showed the sheer love he has for the w...

1st-5th Grade (Read Aloud or Independent Reading)This book was illustrated in a creative way; three different artists were used to tell this amusing story. Kevin O’Malley (also the author) used pen and digital color to draw the children telling the story; his drawings were used on a page by themselves or overlapping the story pictures drawn by Carol Heyer and Scott Goto. Heyer used acrylics to create the images of the princess and the girl’s portion of the story, while Goto used acrylics and oil...

The project is to tell the class about your pair's favorite fairy tale, but one girl and boy can't agree which they like best so they write their own. Three illustrators and one mishmashed tale later, everyone's having fun. Kevin O'Malley authored the story and provides the illustrations of our project pair. Carol Heyer provides the illustrations for the girl's portion of the fairy tale and Scott Goto provides the illustrations for the boy's portion of the fairy tale. While this might be tough f...

This is a great book for anyone who has to read stories to little boys and little girls simultaneously. One book to satisfy two different storytime tastes, no fuss, no muss!My nephew and niece both really enjoyed this story, although I think they did so on different levels. My niece exclaimed, "That is the coolest book! It's so funn-ay!" (Sadly, the Valley Girl lilt is starting to make an appearance in her speech patterns). She laughed in several places, asked me to re-read the book to her and h...

“Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who had to tell a fairy tale to the class, but they couldn't agree on the story. Will they all live happily ever after? Once upon a time there was ...a princess ...a cool muscle dude ...who loved all her beautiful ponies. ...who rode an awesome motorcycle. ...But a giant came and started stealing them! ...The dude came to fight the ugly, smelly giant with his mighty sword. ...She turned gold into thread while she cried for Buttercup, her favorite pony...

Two kids are supposed to research a fairy tale and then report back to their class, but they couldn’t agree on one. So they made up their own, which has elements of all kinds of fairy tales. The girl partner starts the story, and it’s all flowery, princessy and beautiful. The boy partner interrupts half way through the story and brings in the motorcycle dude who is strong and tough (should I say ‘tuff’?). He tells for a bit, but then they begin to interrupt each other more and more, until they a...

I really enjoyed Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude. The boy and girl characters take turn telling the story, which children of all ages can relate to. Everyone wants their ideas included! The story is very humorous and blurs the lines of your typical fairy tale. The illustrations are what made this book stand out for me. The boy and girl are illustrated in a comic book sort of way and they pop up throughout the pages to interrupt. The stories pages look like paintings, with the girl's story paint...

Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude is a great book for children. It was fun and entertaining. Two students are telling a fairytale story together. Throughout the story each student takes turns adding their part to the story. It was a very fun, creative, and original way to create this book. The little girl likes ponies and princesses, and the little boy likes the “Cool Motorcycle Dude,” and giants. The motorcycle dude defeats the giants in his part of the story. The sweet princess ends up spinning...

Remember that email that circulated around the Internet about a man and a woman in college that had to do a writing exercise together for a college course? Well imagine that email as a picture book and the college students are in elementary instead and you have the hilarious Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley. The title alone is enough to make you pick up this book, but the competing illustration styles to match the competing stories are enough to make you stay. Now layer on a fu...

This book was very cute, and I love the illustrations! "Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude" is about two children telling a fairytale together, but each has their own ideas about how the story should go. The little girl favors beautiful princesses and ponies, while the little boy brings in a "cool motorcycle dude" to beat up the nasty giant. The best part of the book are the illustrations, which were done by three different people. One illustrator drew the figures of the girl and boy, one drew the...

This book never fails to please anyone. I've shared it with students ages 4-11. I used it with adults for a "10-minute" storytime (when I was going to go over the 10 minutes, I said I'd stop, but the librarians in the room all wanted me to continue--then asked each other, "Do we have that book in our library?")I met the author (and he's one of the three illustrators)--he's wonderful. He really knows what kids like.The 3 illustrators are a great idea--it makes the transitions work well.Highly rec...

I took this book to 2nd Grade a couple of years ago when I was invited to be a guest reader for my friend's son Matthew. We teased him about reading a book about a princess and he was completely mortified thinking I was going to embarass him in front of his class. He was relieved to find a Cool Motorcycle Dude was also involved. A great battle of the sexes book to keep girls and boys interested in what happens next.

I love the way this book is put together! The differences between the boys and the girls is exactly the way it is. Kevin O'Malley got it right. Girls want the princesses and the boys want the story to have action and a strong male character. This book puts is all together nicely with the characters figuring out the story as they go. The speech bubbles are the perfect touch to finish out the storyline.

I decided to read this book to a 6th grade class as a two reader book, because that is how the book is written. My library assistant and I took turns reading. After the initial reading, we will revisit this book for background knowledge of fairy tales. I will recommend this book to the drama teacher for "readers' theatre" and we will continue to explore it for plot characters and theme. The kids responded well, and we will do it again, and explore in depth.

This is a fun book to share. I read it aloud to a group of 3rd graders today and they LOVED it. Next time I read it, I think I'll do a little more preface work, explaining that the story starts with the narration as written by the girl, and that they need to pay close attention to the expressions on the faces of the two characters as they listen to the other one read their section of the story. Great laughs!

Wonderful read aloud. Even older elementary students will appreciate the humor! I read this to my Godson's class when he was in 2nd Grade and terrified I would embarrass him, but he was quite relieved when his class really enjoyed the book. This book goes back and forth between a girl and boy trying to tell a story - and not agreeing on every point, but coming together for an ending that satifies them both. SD

Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude is a new fairy tale told by two kids: a boy and a girl. The illustrators use different types of pictures depending on who is telling the story. The girl's version of the fairytale involves a princess and her ponies while the boy's tells of giants and motorcycle dudes. This story was slightly entertaining, but I enjoyed the pictures more than the story. Genre: picture bookCopyright: 2005

Two kids were supposed to tell their favorite fairy tale for a school project. They couldn't agree on one story, so they made up a new one. The girl wanted a story about a princess, but the boy had other ideas. Now a buff motorcycle rider is guarding the princess's last horse from an evil giant. Your Turn to Write: Put yourself into the Three Little Pigs. You could take the place of a pig or the wolf or be a new character. What happens?