Module 1 - Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude

Summary:

A boy and a girl must work on a story together.  They are not looking forward to working together. The girl starts the story with a tale of a princess and her ponies, very girlie.  The boy interjects with a masculine storyline.  The two go back and forth carrying the story to the climax where they both go to battle to save the ponies.  The story ends with the boy and the girl agreeing...almost.

O'Malley, K., Goto, S., & Heyer, C. (2005). Once upon a cool motorcycle dude. New York: Walker Publishing         Company, Inc.

My Impression of the book:

I love this book.  I remember as a child hating to work on group project. I felt a vicarious thrill seeing the boy and girl take matters into their own hands, something I would not have done as a child. The story pits boy against girl, masculine against feminine.  The girl may seem weaker in the beginning, but she ends the story on equal footing with the boy.  I think that this book really empowers girls and also helps boys to see that girls really can be heros. 

Reviews:

Library Media Connection (August/September 2005)

A girl and boy create a fantasy for their library report. The girl's character is a damsel-in- distress and the boy's character is a motorcycle-riding "cool muscle dude." When the boy narrates, the "muscle Dude" is rewarded with gold thread that the damsel spins, then the girl transforms her damsel into "Princess Warrior" who tells the muscle dude to make his own thread. While there is some attempt to dispel stereotypes, the message is confusing as only the Princess changes. The value of this story might be in discussion of plot development and choices writers make at various junctures in a narrative. Additional Selection. Brenda Dales, Visiting Assistant Professor, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

Dales, B. (2005, August/September). Once upon a cool motorcycle dude. Library Media Connection,24(1), 71. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a07849a8-d02a-4482-a322-5a34bb7ed780@sessionmgr115&vid=6&hid=122

 

Kirkus Reviews (March 15, 2005)

Young readers who have ever been forcibly yoked to a rival for some class project will glory in this contentious oral report. Unable to agree on a folktale to tell their classmates, a lad and lass decide to make it up as they go. She starts, with Princess Tenderheart-rendered by Heyer in flowing silk gowns and blonde tresses-pining for her beloved ponies, which are being stolen one by one by a giant. Gagging, the storyteller's companion proceeds to add a huge dude who roars up on a chopper to provide protection, and to battle a giant that, in Goto's testosterone-soaked oils, is green but far from jolly. Meanwhile, instead of passively sitting by spinning straw into gold, the Princess starts pumping iron . . . and on the tale seesaws, to a more or less happily-ever-after. The unusual collaboration among illustrators works seamlessly, with O'Malley supplying the storytellers, and Heyer and Goto the characters on separate pages or spreads. This disarming, funny and not agenda-driven dig at the hot-button issue of gender differences is likely to excite plenty of giggles-and perhaps some discussion, too. (Picture book. 6-9)

Once upon a cool motorcycle dude. (2005, March 3).Kirkus Reviews, 73(6), 356. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?

Use in Library Setting

Older elementary students: Have the students work in pairs to create and illustrate their own story.  
Younger elementary students: Introduce point of view and voice. 
All ages would enjoy a reader's theater production acting out the book.