Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude

Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude

by
4.12 of 5 stars 4.12  ·  rating details  ·  657 ratings  ·  160 reviews
Once upon a time there was ... a princess who loved all her beautiful ponies, a cool muscle dude who rode an awesome motorcycle. But a giant came and started stealing them! The dude came to fight the ugly, smelly giant with his mighty sword. She turned gold into thread while she cried for Buttercup, her favorite pony. And he took the princess's gold thread for payment The...more
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published April 1st 2005 by Walker Childrens
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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 905)
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Abigail
Mar 20, 2009 Abigail rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Young Fairy-Tale Lovers
Recommended to Abigail by: CLM
Review Temporarily Removed.
Rfrancik
When two students with vastly different interests are forced to write a story together they manage to collaborate while maintaining their individual styles.

This book looks like a typical fairy tale with the exception of the cover art. Open the front page and it quickly becomes apparent this is not your traditonal story. Two protagonists engaged in a school report partnership quickly engage the reader with their clear and satirical version of events. Boys who immediately groan when you show them...more
Karin
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Nathan
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Kitty
What happens when two seemingly very different schoolchildren are paired together to describe their favourite fairy tale, and can’t reach a decision? They make up their own tale, of course!

Alternating between the voice of a girl captivated by princesses and ponies, and the voice of a clearly unenthusiastic boy more interested in motorcycles and really big swords, they mesh together the perfect balance of the male and female take on the ultimate fairy tale.

Princess Tenderheart is a princess who l...more
Ruhama
Two kids are supposed to research a fairy tale and then report back to their class, but they couldn’t agree on one. So they made up their own, which has elements of all kinds of fairy tales. The girl partner starts the story, and it’s all flowery, princessy and beautiful. The boy partner interrupts half way through the story and brings in the motorcycle dude who is strong and tough (should I say ‘tuff’?). He tells for a bit, but then they begin to interrupt each other more and more, until they a...more
Tami Roberts
1st-5th Grade (Read Aloud or Independent Reading)
This book was illustrated in a creative way; three different artists were used to tell this amusing story. Kevin O’Malley (also the author) used pen and digital color to draw the children telling the story; his drawings were used on a page by themselves or overlapping the story pictures drawn by Carol Heyer and Scott Goto. Heyer used acrylics to create the images of the princess and the girl’s portion of the story, while Goto used acrylics and oil...more
Kelly
Once upon a Cool Dude in a Motorcycle is a very unique book that provides an opportunity for the reader to go along for the ride that the boy and girl takes us on as they explain their favorite fairy tale.

The color, illustrations, and the non-traditional way to tell the story is the reason I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. It is very visually appealing and could allow me to comprehend the story even if there weren't any words.

This story begins using folk art to portray the main characters. The...more
Amy
This is a great book for anyone who has to read stories to little boys and little girls simultaneously. One book to satisfy two different storytime tastes, no fuss, no muss!

My nephew and niece both really enjoyed this story, although I think they did so on different levels. My niece exclaimed, "That is the coolest book! It's so funn-ay!" (Sadly, the Valley Girl lilt is starting to make an appearance in her speech patterns). She laughed in several places, asked me to re-read the book to her and h...more
Sarah
Mar 29, 2008 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Toni
Shelves: children-s-lit
Clever whimsical "battle" between a princess and a "cool" motorcycle dude as each attempts to tell their version of a fairy tale. I read this aloud to students in kindergarten through the sixth grade and, as they say, "a good time was had by all." Even adults will delight in the wit expressed through the dueling characters dialogue.Illustrations are appealing. Hope to see more from this author in the near future!
Sarah BT
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 paint...more
Carol
K-5

Two comic-style characters, a boy and a girl, lead the way via word bubbles through the pages of this updated fairy tale. The girl’s pages are illustrated in typical fairy tale fashion, with bright colors and a traditional fairy tale font; the boy’s pages are illustrated in darker colors with bolder strokes, in the style of a graphic novel with a coordinating masculine font. The fairy tale is actually a story within a story, being written by the feuding boy and girl characters as a class proj...more
(NS) Heatherk
This book received the Monarch Award last year as it was voted on by the children of Illinois. Together, a girl and boy must write a story together. Once upon a time there was ...a princess ...a cool muscle dude ...who loved all her beautiful ponies. ...who rode an awesome motorcycle. ...But a giant came and started stealing them! ...The dude came to fight the ugly, smelly giant with his mighty sword. ...She turned gold into thread while she cried for Buttercup, her favorite pony...

Interesting e...more
Amy Lindsay
A little girl and a little boy co-author a story about a princess and her lost ponies and the Cool Motorcycle Dude who comes and helps her out. The little girl and little boy are talking in bubble inserts and arguing over and commenting on the story as it unfolds. Super funny stuff about gender differences, although the princess does go the gym and become a warrior princess in order to assert a little control over the direction of the story, and the boy agrees in the end that the princess and th...more
Kathryn
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...more
Ubalstecha
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 fu...more
Kelly
My students love this book. I really don’t. At all.

One of my students chose this book as her library choice for the week and asked me to read it during choice time in the classroom. Only a few pages in, we had a crowd of listeners, several of whom had heard the story before and one who joyfully recited all of the words from memory. (And, for me, THAT was a joy because this particular child isn’t typically seen as a ‘reader’ in our classroom. But, this book showed the sheer love he has for the w...more
Kylie Friedel
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...more
Amber (The Musings of ALMYBNENR)
What happens when a boy and a girl have to work together on a project to create a fairy tale?

The boy and girl do not exactly see eye to eye on the story. The girl begins with a princess story in which her ponies are stolen by a giant so she cries and makes gold thread.

Not at all the boy’s style, he takes over and introduces a big biker who guards the last pony and fights the giant while he gets rich off of the gold thread.

They go back and forth, each improving upon the story, effectively working...more
Shantay
This book was very cute, and I love the illustrations! "Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude" is about two children telling a fairytale together, but each has their own ideas about how the story should go. The little girl favors beautiful princesses and ponies, while the little boy brings in a "cool motorcycle dude" to beat up the nasty giant. The best part of the book are the illustrations, which were done by three different people. One illustrator drew the figures of the girl and boy, one drew the...more
(NS) Laura Jackson
“Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who had to tell a fairy tale to the class, but they couldn't agree on the story. Will they all live happily ever after? Once upon a time there was ...a princess ...a cool muscle dude ...who loved all her beautiful ponies. ...who rode an awesome motorcycle. ...But a giant came and started stealing them! ...The dude came to fight the ugly, smelly giant with his mighty sword. ...She turned gold into thread while she cried for Buttercup, her favorite pony...more
Jess
perfect blend of fairy tale and tough guy book - engaging and enjoyed by both girls and boys.
JJ
Sep 24, 2007 JJ rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: 2nd grade and up, People who like humor
ssssssssssssssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Lizzy
I think it was a lot more interesting than other books.
Gina Pecoraro
Format: Picture Book
Interest Level: Grades 3-5

In this book a boy and girl take turns telling a story. The girl starts the story with a princess and her ponies. While she tells the story boy interjects with his own comments until he finally can't stand it and takes over telling the story. This is a book that both boys and girls will enjoy. It's a fun book to read.

This would be a good book to use to introduce and practice partner storytelling. One student starts a story and then their partner tak...more
Sara
Read this at work, and it rocks!
Beth
A fairytale for boys! Who knew such a thing existed, right?? My five-year-old boy loved Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O’Malley, a story from both a girl’s and a boy’s perspective. The two characters can’t quite agree on the angle to take for a school report, and the result is a mish-mash story that’s girly in some parts and all-boy in others. I thought it was a pretty fun idea, even though the resulting story wasn’t anything terrible special or endearing (in my opinion). But like I s...more
Jaime Davis
One of THE most fun readaloud books ever! A girl & a boy vie with each other to tell a fairytale with hilarious contradictions of how they think the story should be told. If you're a ham while reading books to a class (like I am) you will have as much fun reading this as the kids do listening to it. Also now my most popular book during independent reading time (I had to go get another copy!) Sure sign of a good kids' book! Be sure to check out the sequel as well: Once Upon a Royal Superbaby....more
Janis
This book never fails to please anyone. I've shared it with students ages 4-11. I used it with adults for a "10-minute" storytime (when I was going to go over the 10 minutes, I said I'd stop, but the librarians in the room all wanted me to continue--then asked each other, "Do we have that book in our library?")

I met the author (and he's one of the three illustrators)--he's wonderful. He really knows what kids like.

The 3 illustrators are a great idea--it makes the transitions work well.

Highly rec...more
Jennifer
The project is to tell the class about your pair's favorite fairy tale, but one girl and boy can't agree which they like best so they write their own. Three illustrators and one mishmashed tale later, everyone's having fun. Kevin O'Malley authored the story and provides the illustrations of our project pair. Carol Heyer provides the illustrations for the girl's portion of the fairy tale and Scott Goto provides the illustrations for the boy's portion of the fairy tale. While this might be tough f...more
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Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude (Hardcover)
There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads.
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