PreS-Gr 3—This picture book imagines the story of story—from the story's point of view. Yaccarino's characteristic bright, stylized illustrations take readers from an ancient campfire to a modern-day one, making key stops along the way as the tale proudly narrates through the page turns. "I am a story. I was told around a campfire, then painted on cave walls. I was carved onto clay tablets and told in pictures." Together words and illustrations capture a broad range of storytelling methods and platforms: art, writing, theater, radio, television, film, computer, and more. The book also subtly tackles the struggles of access as story prevails through time, contrasting wealthy private libraries with public libraries and showing failed censorship attempts. Coming full circle, the book closes as it started, with stories around a campfire—this time with a modern-day family under the constellations that were represented in the beginning by pictures in the sky. VERDICT A simply told but powerful celebration of the importance of story as well as a jumping-off point for more in-depth study of communication through history. An excellent choice for classroom discussions.—Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA

“Yaccarino’s global scope, as well as a contemporary campfire scene that brings the book full circle, cements the idea that the stories we share are a profound source of human connection.” (Publishers Weekly�(starred review))

“Yaccarino gives voice to the many ways that humans have preserved, shared, and recorded their history through words and images…a good introduction to stories, books, and reading.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“A simply told but powerful celebration of the importance of story as well as a jumping-off point for more in-depth study of communication through history. An excellent choice for classroom discussions.” (School Library Journal)

“[Yaccarino’s] bold, colorful spreads are not only vivacious in nature and supplement his terrific, artful text, they also emphasize how stories have transformed over time...An inspirational tale of the power of language, in all its forms.” (Booklist Online)

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From cave drawings to the invention of the printing press and beyond, discover how a story has been told in many different ways from the past to today. It’s always been around, making us happy, sad, excited, or scared and bringing people together. With simple text and beautiful illustrations, Dan Yaccarino reminds us of the power of story.�

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Dan Yaccarino is an internationally acclaimed author-illustrator with more than thirty children’s books to his credit, including�Five Little Pumpkins, Trashy Town, Unlovable, and�The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau. He also created and produced Nickelodeon’s�Oswald�and is the character designer behind The Backyardigans. You can visit him at www.yaccarinostudio.com.