- Story
- Illustrations
- Format/Quality
- Originality
- Read-Aloudability
Desk Stories
by Kevin O’Malley
If you have a picky reader this book is for you!
Story: 4
Sitting down at a school desk listening to the teacher talk about something or other the mind begins to wander. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the playground is twinkling with morning dew, calling to the the daydreamer. Enter Kevin O’Malley and his Desk Stories. In 31 pages O’Malley has packed 6 chapters of humor and fun for kids to enjoy. The style of the book is in the fashion of a comic book, each chapter a different topic all revolving around a school desk. Who doesn’t remember sitting at their desk with their head on their hand waiting for the day to end? No one. That is why this book is great. Everyone can relate to it. There is a chapter on the history of the desk that chronicles a comical journey through time about the evolution of the school desk. There’s a shrinking girl, a hi-def desk and even an evil desk. Kids will love this book.
Illustrations: 4
Art by Roy Lichtenstein – Image via Wikipedia
Artwork and text are both by Kevin O’Malley. As I have said before this is impressive to me. I received a bit of criticism the last time I said I was impressed when an author also illustrates their work. The reason was that the author happened to be a very accomplished artist that happened to write the book I was reviewing. I suppose I phrased it that way because the story must be written in order to have images that go with the story, at least that is the way my mind works, but I digress. The front cover of the book features a giant desk with three children hanging around on it. Literally. The book also has one of my favorite additions. Illustrated inside covers. THANK YOU! I love illustrated inside covers, it adds so much to the book! The style of the illustrations remains consistent throughout the book but changes slightly as the stories change. For example the story of the hi-def desk is very crisp and modern and the story of the girl that is always prepared is Lichtenstein-esque. Regardless of the style or various differences all of the images are appealing.
Kevin O’Malley has illustrated more than 40 books and has written some of them as well. There is another story similar to Desk Stories called Backpack Stories.
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