David LaRochelle's picture book The End joins such cultural mind benders as the film Memento and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (where we know the answer, just not the question.) Okay, well, maybe I'm stretching the comparison a bit, but the fact is that The End is a clever little oddity that starts at the end of the story and works its way backwards to the start. And, having read the book both forwards (that is, backwards) and back (you know what I mean!) it made more sense starting at....the end. With joyful illustrations by Richard Egielski (of Hey Al! fame) this book shows how the wisdom of hindsight can illuminate just about any situation. Even one that starts, "They all lived happily ever after."
2 comments:
Dear Book Guru,
I am humbled and honored to have my book chosen as "Book of the Week," and to also have it compared to the movie "Momento" and the Hitchhiker's Guide. For those adults interested in another look at backwards storytelling, check out Stephen Sondheim's excellent musical "Merrily We Roll Along," which may be my favorite play of all time.
Thanks again for noticing my book, Yankeerat...may all your beginnings end happily ever after!
David LaRochelle
www.davidlarochelle.net
Speaking of humbled and honored....how surprised was I to get a comment from the author himself! I don't think I get more than 10 hits a day (modest but true.) So the fact that someone mentioned on notjustforkids.com actually managed to find me--it just goes to show that the system works!
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