A Story with Pictures by Barbara Kanninen, pictures by Lynn Rowe Reed.

The author has forgotten to giver her manuscript to the illustrator, so the illustrator doesn’t know what to put in the book.  But the illustrator goes ahead and starts to illustrate the book, starting with a duck which does not belong in the book.  The author then discovers she is a character in her own book and has no control over the setting or the story until she gets a paper and pencil from the duck and decides how the book will continue.

Uproariously funny, this book will teach children about plot, characters and setting without them even realizing they are learning something.  The illustrations are wonderfully quirky with a mix of collage and paint which suits the strange story to a tee.  There is plenty of slapstick humor to keep children engaged.  The entire effect is rather like my childhood favorite:  The Monster at the End of This Book. 

Perfect to share in classrooms learning about the structure of stories, this is also a great readaloud in general.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.