Any Questions?
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Where does the story start? Marie-Louise Gay explains the creative process with typical fun and whimsy.
Many children want to know where stories come from and how a book is made. Marie-Louise Gay’s new picture book provides them with some delightfully inspiring answers in a fictional encounter between an author and some very curious children, who collaborate on writing and illustrating a story.
Marie-Louise has scribbled, sketched, scrawled, doodled, penciled, collaged and painted the words and pictures of a story-within-a-story that show how brilliant ideas creep up on you when you least expect it and how words sometimes float out of nowhere asking to be written.
Any Questions? presents a world inhabited by lost polar bears, soaring pterodactyls, talking trees and spotted snails, with cameo appearances by some of Marie-Louise’s favorite characters — a world where kids can become part of the story and let their imaginations run wild… and just maybe they will be inspired to create stories of their own.
At the end of the book, Marie-Louise provides answers to many of the questions children have asked her over the years, such as “Are you Stella?” “How did you learn to draw?” “Can your cat fly?” “How many books do you make in one day?”
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.6
Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.1
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gay (the Stella and Sam series) playfully uses a story-within-a-story conceit to talk about her own creative process. As a child, "I always had a million questions about everything," she writes, adding that, based on her school visits, "I see that nothing has changed." Gay portrays a diverse group of kids shouting out questions, one of which ("Where does a story start?") she tackles by explaining sometimes she is inspired by color or "words or ideas floating out of nowhere," followed by "little scribbles and doodles appear here and there." After showing how sometimes her ideas don't fly, Gay settles on one about a shy young giant who protects the forest. But she brings her tale to an abrupt halt, asking, "What do you think happens next?" Three precocious children jump in to continue the story before Gay returns to complete it with a twist. Running commentary from children and animals in the background of Gay's mixed-media spreads provides comedic moments as Gay encourages readers to push their own creative boundaries. Ages 6 9.
