No Boring Stories! by Julie Falatko (review)

Star-Nosed Mole, Giraffe-Necked Weevil, Babirusa, and Yeti Crab have a cozy writers' group going, and they're confident that such unusual animals as themselves can surely make up a fabulously interesting story. They are none too pleased, then, when Bunny wants to join. What could be more pedestrian than a bunny, too often featured in books involving "cuddling and mommies and kittens and bedtime"? As their own plot gets stuck, however, and Bunny has an idea for very un-cute weaponized carrots, they begin to warm to their new compatriot. There's an embedded mini-lesson on story crafting, and the writers' group ticks off the requirements for their own roiling tale: relatable characters, inciting incident, rising action, climax. Applying the checklist to Falatko's own effort, however, yields somewhat disappointing results, with a tepid inciting incident, rambling rather than rising action, and a climax that kids will see coming from a mile away. O'Malley's The Princess and the Motorcycle Dude (BCCB 5/05) is a wittier demonstration of tandem writing, and Scieszka's Battle Bunny (BCCB 12/13) carries the day for running insipid picture books to ground. However, younger children beginning to regard their old "baby books" with disdain will find considerable amusement in the contrast between the dusty pastel, precisely drafted protagonists and their gaudy, explosive literary creation, and they'll realize that group writing might actually be a lot of fun. EB