Whose Story Is This, Anyway? by Mike Flaherty, Oriol Vidal (Illustrations) [Interview, Review & Giveaway]

ISBN13: 9781454916086

About the book: What’s this book about? That depends on who you ask. Our humble narrator thinks he’s got a great story for you, but he barely begins before he’s interrupted . . . by a scallywag pirate with a thrilling legend of mermaids and sea monsters! Soon an entire cast of colorful characters—including a hungry dinosaur, an alien bent on world domination, and a heroic knight—derails the boy’s saga. Everyone has a tale to tell—but if they can all get on the same page, this might turn out to be the best story ever!

Let's pick the brain of this unusual tale's author, Mike Flaherty, and see a bit of what makes him "tick"......

1. I know you have children. Boys. Right? Other than the constant children's interruptions when adults are talking about something, what motivated you to write your children's story Whose Story Is This, Anyway? Was there an "ah ha!" moment that you decided this was a good direction to pursue and why?

I have two boys, 8 and 6. And while they disagree on pretty much everything, the one thing that unites them is their crusade to delay bedtime. When it comes time to pick a story, well, neither one can agree which one to read…imagine that.

 “I want the pirate story.”
“But I want the dragon story.”
“No, the time-traveling ninja robot story!”
“There is no time-traveling ninja robot story.”
“Yeah. Well, we should make one before lights out.”
“Can we read them all?”
“Yeah, we should just read ALL THE STORIES.”

While I’d love to read them all, for the sake of sanity we need bedtime stories to be done before the next full moon, so I came up with a story that crammed in as many of their favorite characters as I could. Yes, my ‘a-ha’ moment was born from a need to streamline bedtime. Now, about that time-traveling ninja robot story…

2.  Is this your first book? If so, does your current career contribute to the genesis of this new branching out to being an author?

This is my first book to be published (we shall speak nothing of the many books stashed away in the “Story Graveyard” folder on my laptop). And despite protests from 5-Year-Old Me, I grew up to be a financial advisor. Not to knock the field, but I wouldn’t say it directly contributes to my work as an author. Unless I can find a publisher for my board book “The ABCs of Prudent Financial Planning."

 3. What piece of advice would you offer to 1) parents and 2) children?

Trust your instincts. With all the advice, tips, life-hacks, and patronizing judgement that parents are bombarded with every day, it’s all too easy to lose sight of the fact that for the most part, you’re doing the parenting thing right already. Love your kids, live your life. For kids, always be curious and ask questions, but don’t stop there. Find your own answers. 

I don't know about my Chat With Vera readers, but I'm seeing the beginning of a really good children's book author and can hardly wait to see what more he has stored in that "Story Graveyard folder" on his computer. Hey publishers, are you listening????

My thoughts: This is the story of one frustrated little boy. He's got a story he is just hankering to tell and he just can't get past all the interjections, interruptions, and interfering voices of creatures, pirates, and what-all. He wants to tell HIS story and he doesn't want them butting in on him while he is getting HIS story told. The author captures this kid's frustration and lets it build and build until.....

..... in desperation and realization it dawns upon him that HIS story CAN involve all these others, too.

Love the cute, funny art drawn with bold lines and bright bold colors. Great at capturing the tone and vibrancy of the book.

I love the great sense of humor of both the author and illustrator have obviously poured into this cute book. Another good Sterling Children's Book I can heartily recommend for fun reading times at home and in libraries everywhere.

GIVEAWAY

Begins 5/6/2016 & Ends 5/27/2016

Open to USA addresses only!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from Sterling Children's Books to facilitate this review. Opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review. Illustrations provided and reprinted with permission from Whose Story Is This, Anyway? © 2016 by Mike Flaherty, Sterling Children’s Books, an imprint of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. Illustrations © 2016 by Oriol Vidal.