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The Story Starts Here!

Written and illustrated by Caroline Merola
Owlkids Books         9/15/2014
978-1-77147-079-7
40 pages      Age 4 to 8

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“Little Wolf wants to do things his way. And that includes starting HIS story from the back of the book. But Little Wolf’s topsy-turvy day gets a unexpected twist  when someone else decides to join in on the fun.

Play along as Little Wolf turns the picture book on its head!”

Review

Little Wolf is one stubborn little guy.

Oh, wait! I forgot to tell you a very important thing—The Story Starts Here has the ending at the beginning and the beginning at the end.  So flip the book around and upside down, and then open the back “front” cover. Ready?

Little Wolf is one stubborn little guy.

“Because I said so.”

He wants things his way, including with you; you are reading his book upside down and backwards. Little Wolf eats dessert first, puts his pants on his head, and plays piano with his toes. Little Wolf declares today is backward day to his unwilling and objecting parents.

“No, you will not begin with dessert.”
“No, you will not play piano with your toes!”

Sent to his room to think about his contrary behavior, Little Wolf sneaks outside (with his pants still fashionably atop his head). Outside, all the creatures are quickly running away from something. Little Wolf turns around and finds he is face-to-face with a monster. The Story Starts Here had me laughing from the get go at Little Wolf and his backward antics. Little Wolf playing the piano and wearing his trousers’ on his head is hilarious, but not as much as the twist. The monster is feeling a bit topsy-turvy itself. “It” explains this to Little Wolf, who seems to understand . . . until the monster tells Little Wolf to flip the book back over.

Oh, wait! I forgot again. Keep the book open and flip back over so the beginning is the beginning and the end is the end. Now we can finish the story.

Despite the funny goings on the story could be better. Little Wolf is the same stubborn wolf as he was at page . . . the beginning of the story. He does not even think the twist is funny. (Spoilt sport, he is!)  I really like The Story Starts Here and the concept of an upside day. Feeling a little off is a good time to mix things up. Good thing dad understands his son.

I love “Dad Books.” The Story Starts Here will entertain fathers and sons, making a great reading experience for both. Little Wolf is generic and so can be any child; dad can be any father. Kids will love the craziness of flipping and reading backward, then suddenly flipping back. It is one more way to engage and interest them in reading. Kids will also love the surprise ending (a new fashion, which had me laughing, is born).  If the book does not make you dizzy—it will not—you and your child will enjoy a funny story and a great lead into a discussion on how sometimes a story—or the world—has more than one view.

THE STORY STARTS HERE! Text and illustrations copyright © 2014 by Caroline Merola. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Owlkids Books, Berkely, CA.
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Purchase The Story Starts Here at Amazon—B&N—Book Depository—Owlkids Books
Learn more about The Story Starts Here HERE.
Meet the author/illustrator, Caroline Merola, at her website:  http://www.carolinemerola.com/
Find more picture books at the Owlkids Books website:  https://store.owlkids.com
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Copyright © 2015 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews
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As a teenager, I had a step-mother only ten years my senior. Which was like having a sister with the power of a mother. Not a good combination. Needless to say, we had a complicated, volatile relationship and one of the things I most remember about it was learning that I don’t really like anyone telling me what to do. Even if I am just about to do it myself, once someone else makes it a requirement, I lose all interest in doing it. Ever. When my step-mother, let’s call her “Batty,” was around, I would walk past a basket of laundry and think to myself, “I am going to fold those clothes.” It never failed that at that exact moment Batty would say something about me having to fold the clothes before I could do anything else and then someone would have had to break my arm to get me to do what I was walking across the room to do five seconds before I was told I had to. It’s not mature or healthy, but I have to own it. At the junior high, we have a rotating schedule for collecting recycling from the outside cans, but I am often happy to do it just because. Unless it is my week. Then I balk and chafe at having to do it. What is that?! In Julie Sykes’ I don’t want to take a bath, Little Tiger is my won’t-do-it-if-you-tell-me-to soulmate. Just don’t tell him he has to be.

http://www.amazon.com/I-Dont-Want-Take-Bath/dp/1888444207

http://www.juliesykes.co.uk/

One way a writer’s stubbornness pays off is when you’re a young writer and your parents tell you that being a writer is a ridiculous idea. How will you live? (My father’s line was that he wasn’t supporting me until social security took over.) That’s a good question and you will have to find an answer to it some day. You may be one of the few who make a living off writing, but most likely you’ll need the help of another job or a tolerant, well-paid spouse or a trust fund or some other, preferably legal, means of support.

BUT—you will need to be stubborn, regardless, when family members and sometimes even lovers/husbands/wives tell you that your dream will ruin your life. As with many dreams there is an element of the ridiculous to it. Also there’s that hubris. Who do you think you are anyway? Why can’t you just be satisfied with a normal job and life(whatever that is)? Who would want to be a writer anyway? Be real. Grow up.

Contrary to movie and TV show notions of reality most people do not have a dream that fills their life. They have desires. Every single one of us has those and we have them all the time. But the big dream is rare. If you have it, you will not be understood by most people. Sometimes you will not be understood by those who love you. Probably you won’t even really understand it yourself. SO you have to be stubborn. I prefer a polite, quiet totally inflexible stubborness, but the loud, rude kind certainly has a dramatic quality. Whatever. Be stubborn. Write.