One Day, The End: Short, Very Short, Shorter-Than-Ever Stories

by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Fred Koehler (Illustrator)

Overview

Very short, creative stories pair with bold illustrations in this picture book that will inspire young readers to stretch their imaginations and write stories of their own.
 
"One day. . . I went to school. I came home. The end," says our storyteller—a girl with a busy imagination and a thirst for adventure. The art tells a fuller tale of calamity on the way to school and an unpredictably happy ending. Each illustration in this inventive picture book captures multiple, unexpected, and funny storylines as the narrator shares her shorter-than-ever stories, ending with "One day. . . I wanted to write a book." This book demonstrates a unique approach to writing and telling stories and is a delightful gift for children as well as for teachers seeking a mentor text for their classrooms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620914519
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	10/06/2015
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	300,535
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	BR (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Rebecca Kai Dotlich has loved stories for as long as she can remember. She is the author of When Riddles Come Rumbling and Lemonade Sun, among other titles. Her poetry and picture books have won various honors, including the Golden Kite Honor Award. She lives near Indianapolis, Indiana, and gives presentations and poetry workshops across the country. rebeccakaidotlich.com

Fred Koehler wrote and illustrated his first book, titled Archie the Shoestring, at age seven, and has been doodling and writing stories ever since. His debut picture book, How to Cheer Up Dad, was inspired by a coffee-shop standoff with his two-year-old son. He lives with his two spirited kids in Lakeland, Florida. ilikefred.com

Editorial Reviews

07/20/2015
“For every story there is a beginning and an end,” Dotlich (All Aboard!) writes, “but what happens in between makes all the difference.” She and Koehler (How to Cheer Up Dad) prove this premise nine different ways in ultra-brief stories that begin with “One day,” conclude with “The End,” and follow the energetic, inquisitive storyteller in between. Koehler builds each story around an interaction between the giant typography and the plot, so that a very simple recounting (“One day... I went to school. I came home. The End.”) becomes far sillier and involved. The girl chases her cat around the word “went”; “school” gets splattered with pink goo from a chemistry lab; and “came” appears as the sprinkles-covered lettering on an ice-cream truck that holds the reward for a long day. The action can be difficult to track, and the punch lines don’t always hit their marks, but Koehler’s drawings have an easygoing sense of whimsy as they highlight just how much can happen in the briefest of stories. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. Illustrator’s agent: Tracey Adams, Adams Literary. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"A series of cleverly crafted tales involving a precocious girl doing ordinary things in a creative and energetic manner. Nine 'shorter-than-ever' stories of a dozen words or less, become considerably more sophisticated when readers delve into Koehler's dynamic cartoon illustrations.... Dotlich and Koehler are ideally teamed up and offer a genius method of encouraging narrative dialogue, as well as attention to text.... These very short stories are ideal for sharing, providing opportunities for word recognition and writing prompts, dialogic reading, and narrative discussion." -School Library Journal

"Retro, digitally created illustrations are clear and uncluttered, yet provide ample details that allow readers to fill in the gaps of these oh-so-brief tales....this entertaining collection shows that storytelling can be easily accomplished and can consist of more than just words." -Booklist

"Koehler builds each story around an interaction between the giant typography and the plot, so that a very simple recounting ('One day... I went to school. I came home. The End.') becomes far sillier and involved.... Koehler's drawings have an easygoing sense of whimsy as they highlight just how much can happen in the briefest of stories." -Publishers Weekly

"In this collection of stories that are both tiny and substantial, words, pictures, and book design dance with one another in a way only possible in a picture book.... (t)he text is graphically dynamic." -The Horn Book

From the Publisher

2015-06-23
The short stories in this picture book rely heavily on accompanying art to fill in the spaces between beginnings and ends. Dotlich's book begins with the statement that "For every STORY there is a BEGINNING and an END, but what happens IN BETWEEN makes ALL the DIFFERENCE." Subsequent pages follow a little girl's brief adventures. Each begins, "One day…" and introduces a scenario, then concludes with "The End." In between opening and closing lines, Koehler's art provides visual narrative content for the meat of the story. For example, the first story reads: "One Day…I WENT TO SCHOOL. I CAME HOME. The End." Accompanying illustrations show the girl playing with a cat during her walk to school, then racing in late to school, then making a mess in science class, then walking dejectedly home, then cheering up at the sight of an ice cream truck, then feeling sad when her ice cream falls on the ground, and then feeling happy again because she apparently picked up the ice cream and plopped it back on the cone. Perhaps the book's conceit is supposed to inspire children to use words to "create their own middles" (as the dedication page reads), but describing the action of a picture that does just this seems quite a different task than imagining a middle by oneself. A well-intentioned conceit that risks undoing itself. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews