Sonderbooks Book Review of Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude

Reviewed July 13, 2005.
Walker & Company, New York, 2005. 32pages.
Available at Sembach Library (E OMA).
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2005 (#3, Picture Books)

I laughed out loud when I read this book, even though I was in the library. And I had to bring it home for my family to read. (They loved it, too.)

The book begins with a boy and a girl who were supposed to tell their favorite fairy tale to their class. They couldn’t agree on which story was best, so they made one up.

The girl begins. She introduces the beautiful Princess Tenderheart, who had eight beautiful ponies named Jasmie, Nimble, Sophie, Polly, Penny, Sunny, Monica, and Buttercup. When a giant begins stealing her ponies, Princess Tenderheart cries all day.

The boy doesn’t like the way the story is going, so he brings in a cool motorcycle dude to fight the giant and earn the gold thread that the princess spins from straw.

The girl doesn’t like the way the story is going, so they end up making an ending together that both of them can enjoy—sort of.

This book is wonderfully funny, playing on the stereotypes of what boys and girls like, and ending up with something for everyone. The pictures beautifully accompany it, with Carol Heyer illustrating the girl’s lovely fairy tale, and Scott Goto presenting the boy’s cool motorcycle dude and disgusting ogre.

This story will definitely find its way into some Library Story Times this summer, and is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Besides the fun story, it’s a light-hearted look at the way males and females are different, even at such a young age.

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

******Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude*

written and illustrated by Kevin O'Malley

also illustrated by Carol Heyer and Scott Goto