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 funny story that exploits the differences between male and female stories and you have a brilliant picture book that is perfect for junior and intermediate students. Teachers will also love to use this book to illustrate the writing process.

Kids love this story. Great read-aloud. Best for grades 1 and 2, but all grades respond well to it.

This is a great book for an upper grader. I have a new favorite author and it is Kevin O'Malley.

I teach English as a Second Language to grades K-5. This is the best read-aloud children's book I have ever used in the classroom! Every single student has raved about it and asked to hear it again. The story is written in two distinct, dueling voices: one a princess-and-pony-loving girl and the other a typical "dude" who loves fight scenes and giants with rotting teeth. This author really knows how to reach young readers!

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 illustrations also were a bit jarring as the glossy fairytale aspects seemed so out of harmony with the rather cartoon-ish looking kids popping across the page now and then. This will probably be a hit with kids, but I wish it didn't promote the gender stereotypes quite so much.

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 painted as brightly colored and whimsical, and the boy's pages darker and with a feeling of menace and foreboding. These two styles become blurred when the story starts to overlap. The illustrations add to the story and really help readers see the different narrations that are happening. Although the book says the age appeal is for 6-10, I could also see this one being used with older readers to introduce fractured fairy tales.

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 for the motorcycle dude while her ponies were kidnapped. The best part of this book is the illustrations which were done by three different illustrators. I loved this book and would recommend it to anybody.

This book was about a girl and boy who have to write a collaborative story for their class... So it's half about a princess and half about a cool motorcycle dude... :) It was really cute!

A boy and girl have an assignment to write a fairytale together. One has the prince coming to the rescue; the other has the cool motorcycle dude saving the princess's ponies—for a price!
It is a good way to rerite their own versions of a fairy tale. It is a very enjoyable books.

A made-up fairy tale from the perspective of a boy and a girl, each adding special embellishments. In the end, however, they agree to disagree about a lot of details. I guess fairy tales really do come true :-)

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?

Great fun as a read aloud for all grades.