Whose Story Is This, Anyway?

by Mike Flaherty

What’s this book about? That depends on who you ask. Our humble narrator thinks he’s got a great story for you, but he barely begins before he’s interrupted . . . by a scallywag pirate with a thrilling legend of mermaids and sea monsters! Soon an entire cast of colorful characters—including a hungry dinosaur, an alien bent on world domination, and a heroic knight—derails the boy’s saga. Everyone has a tale to tell—but if they can all get on the same page, this might turn out to be the best story ever!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, Storytime, Books About Books, Pirates

Hardcover

First published May 3, 2016

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, we've seen 'meta' books like this, meant to show children all the kinds of wonderful books that available. But this is special.

Funny, exciting, clean & vibrant cartoony art, and an ending that warmed the cockles of my heart. I'd be very surprised if youngsters who see this don't want to find more books... and thereby become more literate.

Speaking just for my adult self, though, I actually want to read the story just about the boy, not the adventure with the crazy friends!

Rounded up to four stars because of the cat.

[Kellee Moye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review with teaching tools: http://www.unleashingreaders.com/?p=1...

This book made me laugh out loud. The characters are zany, the premise is fun, and the outcome is perfect. I also loved the comic-esque layout of the book with dialogue bubbles and colorful illustrations. Trent and I were enthralled with the cast of characters–the author really made sure to include all kids’ favorites.

[Leslie Truax]

This book is told from the perspective of an unnamed boy who wants to tell a story about himself, at the beach, with his cat named Emporer Falafel. Things become complicated for the boy, however, when he is interrupted by a pirate, a dinosaur, an alien, a knight, among others, who all want to tell their stories, too. Our narrator, however, is not a fan of sharing, and he tries to push everyone out so that he can tell his own story. Through the book, our narrator learns about how annoying circumstances can have unexpectedly good results.

I think that this book is a fantastic addition to my unit on conflict/struggle. It provides some humor that a lot of the heavier works may not provide, and can help students to learn how important conflict is to any given story. Without a conflict - like our narrator's story in "Whose Story Is This, Anyway?" without interruptions - stories are boring. It's through the unexpected problems that stories are born. The book addresses both of my essential questions, too, by discussing the positive and negative potential of struggles, along with showing how they can affect behavior. I would use this book along with "The 'So What?' Paper" strategy from Gallagher, Chapter 2. This strategy asks students to write papers that require them to think deeply about how experiences can teach them, change them, and affect their behavior. Students can reflect on how the boy from "Whose Stoy Is This, Anyway?" changed as a result from his encounters with the other surprise characters, and how the experience created an opportunity for that character. I will encourage them to write about an experience that they didn't necessarily like, and how it affected their perspectives and behavior.

[Henry Herz · Rating 5 out of 5]

In WHOSE STORY IS THIS, ANYWAY? a boy attempts to tell a story about himself (and possibly, his cat). His egocentric tale is repeatedly interrupted by fantastical characters of his own imagination, including a pirate, dinosaur, and alien. Aside from including diverse creatures from the pantheon of kid favorites, author Mike Flaherty's writing is filled with humor that made me laugh aloud. Eventually, the boy comes to the realization that his story is better with his crazy new friends than without it. The author artfully captures the voice of a young boy who wants his own way. Speaking of artful, illustrator Oriol Vidal's illustrations are fabulous, and contribute greatly to conveying the humor of each scene as the creatures appear to work at cross-purposes with the frustrated protagonist. Kids need real friends. But they also need imaginary friends.

[Michaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is absolutely my favorite book to read to children. Everytime I babysit I read this book and the kids LOVE it. Whenever I start tutoring a young child in reading, I always share this book with them. Some say it's overrated, but the story is origional and it never ceases to leave the kids and I laughing uncontrollably at the characters, especially the cat!

[Carrie Gelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My students were gaga over this one! Pirates! Hungry dinosaurs! Aliens! What more could we want?

[Baby Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was originally written for The Baby Bookworm. Visit us for new picture books reviews daily!

Hello, everyone! Today’s book is Whose Story Is This, Anyway?, written by Mike Flaherty and illustrated by Oriol Vidal, a wonderfully funny tale of a frustrated young narrator attempting to tell his story in the face of constant interruptions.

The book’s narrator, a young boy, had a great story for you. It’s about a day at the beach with his cat, Emperor Falafel, and- what? No, Captain, there’s no swashbuckling pirates in this story, you’ll have to leave. And no hungry green dinosaurs, either! Nor any purple aliens or dashing knights either. As the other characters keep butting in and interrupting, the narrator finally has had enough, and orders them all out of HIS story. However, without friends, his story seems a bit boring… and lonely. Okay, maybe having some wild new friends in his story wouldn’t be the worst thing. After all, there definitely won’t be another story like it!

This one was so cute. For some reason, I always enjoy these books that break the fourth wall and end up being very meta (How This Book Was Made by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex is a great one), maybe because they appeal to the type of humor that kids love, i.e. breaking the rules. The cast of characters is fun, and a great opportunity to break out some different voices, as the entirety of the text is dialogue. The art is fun and fantastically silly, and the length is perfect. JJ loved this one and I did too, so this is a definitely Baby Bookworm approved!

Be sure to check out The Baby Bookworm for more reviews!

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary:
A little boy begins to tell a story about his cat, Emperor Falafel. When suddenly something interrupts his story. Pirates and dinosaurs and aliens, oh my! This is the story of a little boy trying to tell his story about his cat and his day at the beach, but keeps getting interrupted. Along the way he encounters a pirate’s story, a story about a dinosaur, an alien’s story and many others. This little boy is determined to get you to listen to his story. He even pushes all of his new found friends away. By the time the story ends, will you want to listen?
Activity:
Read the book aloud to students. After you have read it, give students paper and tell them to write a story about anything they would like. After they have completed their story, have them trade papers with a friend. The friend will then read their paper and add whatever they want to it. You can have the students switch papers up to 3 times. By the time they get their story back, it will be a silly story, just like the book they read!
Citation:
Flaherty, M. and Vidal, O. (2016). Whose Story is This, Anyway?. New York, NY: Sterling Children’s Books

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those 'meta' books about books and stories and storytelling, where the characters are actively taking part in the storytelling process (or, in this case, disrupting the process). Here, aliens, pirates, dinosaurs, and knights all try to insert their story into the boy's own story. So, whose story is it anyway?

I can see using this for a storytime on stories/storytelling - maybe a library week or children's book festival sort of storytime. Or, of course, for storytimes on beaches, pirates, aliens, dinosaurs, or knights. I can definitely see it adapted as a puppet show - the text is primarily conversational, so it would be very easy to act it out. It would also be good for a young elementary school crowd for a lesson on storytelling - maybe a prompt for a young writer's group? At any rate, it's a fun read with bright, silly illustrations and a host of entertaining characters trying to make the book their own.

Also, Emperor Falafel is a wonderful name for a pet.

[Kalynne]

Date: 07.28.23
Attendees: 72
Theme: Stories
Introduction and announcements:Shake my Silles out by Raffi

Book one: It’s a Tiger! By David LaRochelle


Song/rhyme/game one: Aiken Drum (dry erase board, pull food from box and draw Aiken Drum)

Book two: Whose Story is This, Anyway? By Mike Flaherty

Song/rhyme/game two: Face the Facts by Jim Gill

Book three: We are in a book by Mo Willems

Song/ rhyme/ game three: Mr. Wiggle and Mr. Waggle

Announcements:
Activity: Play or coloring

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally I really liked the ridiculousness of this story though I'm not sure the word choices would work for a preschool storytime. I'm all about teaching kids new words but this book has so many words that would be new to little ones that the book would take twice as long to get through because I'd want to make sure they knew what all the new words meant.

[Johnathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book of a kid trying to tell a story but keeps getting interrupted along the way. I like that he does learn to share the story with others and makes new friends along the way.

It's not right for a storytime. The story is told through dialogue which would make it a little hard to hold up in front of kids to read. The pictures are fun and it is a good story.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a lot of fun to read to myself, but I also read it out loud, which was a lot more fun. The boy in the book is trying to tell a story about himself, but random characters pop up and say that the book is about THEM, not him.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boy is trying to tell a story about him and his cat, Emperor Falafel, but other characters keep invading to tell their own story. This would be a good one before doing a storytelling activity. You could have the group/class tell more of the story that's introduced at the end of the book.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do enjoy metafiction.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a read aloud for groups. Just good fun. Would work well with multiple readers.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love this book, it is so fun!

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny story with very cute, cartoon illustrations.

[Trisha Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this thinking it might be a good way to illustrate some writing concepts, but it's mostly just a fun book that throws as many story cliches into 32 pages as possible.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emperor Falafel FTW

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found in L4L Volume 86.

[Launna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp of a story.

[Sara Carmona · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a great book for teaching about perspective and character development through dialogue.

[Storywraps · Rating 5 out of 5]

The narrator of this book, a little boy with his cat he named Emperor Falafel, is all set to tell his story... an "all about ME" tale. He takes his loveable cat down to the beach where he enters into storytelling mode and is about to begin when he is ever so rudely interrupted by some very unseemly characters who want to silence him and tell THEIR stories. Oh my! He is confronted by a pirate who wants to spin his yarn about mermaids and giant creatures from the briny deep, a ravenous dinosaur who wants to order up hot dogs, tacos and pizza, an alien named Yurxl preparing for an intergalactic conquest, and lastly, a dashing knight who wants to tell a tale of "gallant knights, foul dragon, and fair maidens!' No way he he thinks, this is my story!

Totally frustrated with all the interventions the boy loses his cool. He in no certain terms tells them that they will have to get lost because this story is about HIM and HIM ALONE! The boy orders them all to "GET OUT!"

He starts spouting his story once again and realizes his story may not be so interesting after all. What's that he sees? He detects a yawn from his reader... oh noooooo!! Maybe HIS story lacks luster and excitement... maybe his story truly is boring!

Recognizing that maybe he made a mistake by sending the other characters away he makes an executive decision to call them all back and include them in his story. Good choice you think?

"So this is a story about me... and the day I met a bunch of crazy new friends."

The story is told with a great sense of humour and wit. The illustrations work perfectly with the text. The voice and mood of the boy and his interaction with his interrupters are spot on. Stories work best when others are involved in the making. Working together can be rewarding and the author sums it up the best:

"Everyone has a tale to tell, but if they can all get on the same page, this might turnout to be the best story ever!" Yes!!

I highly recommend this book.

[Kathryn (Dragon Bite Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog, Nine Pages .

I read this alongside of Monster & Son, When Your Elephant Comes to Play, and Hoot and Peep, and this was declared the favorite by the little boy at story time whom I polled. This is the story of a boy who wants to tell a story about himself—with a cameo by his cat, Emperor Falafel—but the story keeps getting interrupted by pirates and knights and dinosaurs and aliens. He shouts them all away, but realizes that the audience for his story actually prefers a story with pirates and knights and dinosaurs and aliens and rewrites his story to include them all. The competing voices in the story are what I think make this so much fun: a deep growling voice of “arr” and “yar” and “ye” for the pirate, Salty Pete; a proper, clipped voice for Sir Knightly; a sort of dopey voice with lots of rounded tones that I gave the dinosaur; and a sort of shrill, nasal voice for the boy. Now, I’m not sure how I feel about the idea that a story about an ordinary boy and his cat is dull and yawn-inducing, but the idea that a story is better with friends and with characters I can get behind. I think it would be a fun story to use when talking about story writing.

[Vera Godley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of one frustrated little boy. He's got a story he is just hankering to tell and he just can't get past all the interjections, interruptions, and interfering voices of creatures, pirates, and what-all. He wants to tell HIS story and he doesn't want them butting in on him while he is getting HIS story told. The author captures this kid's frustration and lets it build and build until.....

..... in desperation and realization it dawns upon him that HIS story CAN involve all these others, too.

Love the cute, funny art drawn with bold lines and bright bold colors. Great at capturing the tone and vibrancy of the book.

I love the great sense of humor of both the author and illustrator have obviously poured into this cute book. Another good Sterling Children's Book I can heartily recommend for fun reading times at home and in libraries everywhere.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from Sterling Children's Books to facilitate this review. Opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This little boy starts to tell you all about himself and his cat when all of a sudden he is interrupted by a pirate fighting a pink octopus who lets you know that the story is really about his high seas adventures. When a dinosaur steps in to find snacks and enjoy the story about a little boy and the pirate he is reminded the story is really about the little boy. As we turn the pages more and more characters are introduced until the reader is left to wonder, whose story is this anyway? But when the original narrator throws a tantrum will he be able to include all the new friends he's made or will his story continue on a boring trend towards its conclusion. This was funny and full of various characters, each with their own original point of view that compliment each other in a silly, entertaining story.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this as a Good Reads 1st read book giveaway, my 4 year old granddaughter and I read it as one of her bedtime stories last night. We giggled throughout the text, the text and illustrations are nice eye appealing. The story starts out with a little boy going to tell us a story about himself. But then a pirate stops in and says the story needs to be about him, then as the little boy argue wit him; the story switches to a hungry dinosaur, then an alien etc. And makes it's way back to the little boy. A fun story to read outloud or to help teach a young reader.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title of this book gives the reader a false impression; it is not a story. Instead, multiple characters just argue about whose story it is, who/what should be in the story, and what should take place. I didn't understand the point of it at all. The illustrations were fun, but it was as if the author was trying too hard to be humorous while drumming up a fantasy tale. It didn't work for me at all and I think children will be confused by it.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't tried this one with kids yet. I am struggling with my adult reaction versus how kids will react. It's not really much of a story; it's more about the concept of writing your story and deciding what's going to be in it.