David LaRochelle

author & illustrator

The End

The End

by David LaRochelle
illus­trat­ed by Richard Egiel­s­ki
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, 2007
Ages 4 to 8
ISBN 978–0‑439–64011‑4

Find this book at your favorite library or used bookseller.

The End
The End receives a warm wel­come at the Cel­e­bra­tion of Min­neso­ta Chil­dren’s Authors at the Ander­son Cen­ter in Red Wing.

“And they all lived hap­pi­ly every after.”

Usu­al­ly that’s how a sto­ry con­cludes, but not this one!

This top­sy-turvy tale begins with The End and winds back­wards: past a sog­gy knight, a fright­ened drag­on, 100 bun­ny rab­bits, an enor­mous run­away toma­to, and a hun­gry giant who wants lemon cheese­cake for dessert … until final­ly arriv­ing at Once upon a time.

For­wards or back­wards, this is a very unusu­al fairy tale indeed!

Resources

Look­ing for ways to build on the learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties found with­in The End? These PDF files are small and easy to download.

Here’s a teach­ing guide that will give your stu­dents a chance to prac­tice their lit­er­al and high­er lev­el think­ing skills.

If the giant in The End made an apol­o­gy to the cook, what do you think it would be like? How would the cook respond? Your stu­dents can use their imag­i­na­tions with this fun let­ter-writ­ing activ­i­ty.

Oh, no! The knight’s beard is on fire! Chal­lenge your kids to draw a cre­ative way to put the fire out.

Can you write Back­words? These puz­zlers might even have teach­ers scratch­ing their heads! And just in case you need them, here are the answers.

Feel free to copy these book­marks for your stu­dents to color.

Inter­est­ed in host­ing a Back­wards Par­ty? This guide has ideas for games, activ­i­ties, refreshments…everything from Z to A!

Awards and Recognition

SCBWI Gold­en Kite Hon­or for Pic­ture Book Text
Bill Mar­tin, Jr., Pic­ture Book Award nom­i­nee
Mary­land Black-Eyed Susan Book Award nom­i­nee
Wyoming Bucka­roo Book Award nom­i­nee
Wash­ing­ton’s Chil­dren’s Choice Award nom­i­nee
Maine’s Chick­adee Award nom­i­nee
Ten­nessee Vol­un­teer State Book Award nom­i­nee
Utah Bee­hive Award nominee

Reviews

“The reversed nar­ra­tive, hilar­i­ous turn-of-the-page plot twists and bright, com­i­cal, pre­cise­ly drawn art add up to an uncom­mon­ly clever out­ing that invites reading—in either direc­tion.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

“The reversed nar­ra­tive, hilar­i­ous turn-of-the-page plot twists and bright, com­i­cal, pre­cise­ly drawn art add up to an uncom­mon­ly clever out­ing that invites reading—in either direc­tion.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“LaRochelle keeps the plot sim­ple, the bet­ter to trace the invert­ed order, and leaves the excite­ment (the drag­on’s fiery snort, the giant’s tantrum, etc.) to the inter­twin­ing images. Egiel­s­ki illus­trates in buoy­ant hues.… and gives time­ly visu­al hints to past and future moments in this nice­ly real­ized puz­zle.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly, starred review)

“Though the book can be appre­ci­at­ed in one read­ing, and would work well when shared aloud, mul­ti­ple perusals are nec­es­sary to spot all of the details. When young­sters reach the begin­ning of The End, they will want to start all over again.” (School Library Jour­nal, starred review)