ONCE UPON A COOL MOTORCYCLE DUDE- Kevin O'Malley, illustrations by O'Malley, Carol Heyer and Scott Goto

Summer is just around the corner. The boys want to go to at least three football camps each. There will be combines. They will need new cleats and gloves and ankle braces. Everything costs lots of money. So I tried to exercise restraint at CCIRA. But I had to pick up at least a couple of new books to bring back to my kids.

ONCE UPON A COOL MOTORCYCLE DUDE is a classic, collage style, fractured fairy tale. Three kids- two boys and a girl- are supposed to retell a favorite fairy tale. They can't decide what story to tell, so they make up their own. Their story begins with the beautiful Princess Tenderheart. When the story begins, Princess Tenderheart has eight ponies. Each night, despite all of her best efforts, someone comes and steals one of the ponies, until finally, she is left with only her favorite, a pony named Buttercup. Then a cool motorcycle dude steps in to save the day…

The illustrations,done by three different illustrators with three really different styles, are the funnest part of this book. Kevin O'Malley, the author/illustrator, tells his story with the three main characters, talking in comic-like conversation bubbles. Carol Heyer tells the story of Princess Tenderheart, with classic fairy tale illustrations similar to those of KING BIDGOOD'S IN THE BATHTUB. When the Cool Motorcycle Dude roars onto the scene, then Scott Goto takes over.

I'm thinking about teaching a collage class in the spring. This will be a fun book to add to my collection for that class…