Monday, May 29, 2017

One Day, The End: Short, Very Short, Shorter-Than-Ever Stories by Rebecca Kai Dotlich; illustrated by Fred Koehler

The first story begins…and ends.

One day…
I went to school.
I came home.
The end.

This Boston Globe-Horn Honor book is a compilation of 2-4 page stories of 10-12 words each. The meat of each story is told through illustrations in a beautiful melding of text and art. While the words are simple, the illustrations depict an imaginary adventure.

One day…
I lost my dog.
I found him!
The end.


The word “found” is written in muddy paw prints, clues to where her dog has disappeared. The girl examines the “f” with a magnifying glass, takes copious notes from within the center of the “o,” measures the “n” with a ruler and then finally finds her lost pup sleeping inside the curves of the “d.”

“One Day, the end” gets better each time you read it. The illustrations are so fun and detailed, on repeat readings you may choose to follow the cat’s story arc or the dog’s, or even the squirrels.

If I were to sum up this book in one short story, it would read:

One day…
I read book.
It was good.
The end.