I Do Not Like Stories

I Do Not Like Stories is a picture book from author Andrew Larsen and illustrator Carey Sookocheff. In it, readers essentially have two ongoing tales: a day in the life of a young boy who repeatedly insists that he does not like stories of ANY type, and a day in the life of his cat. The boy uses the refrain of “I do not like stories” to describe every activity in his day, from waking up to walking to school to coming back home again.

As readers follow along with Andrew Larsen’s rhythmic text, they will see from Sookocheff’s artwork that it appears the things the boy “doesn’t like stories” about are also things that are intimidating (approaching a giant school building), challenging (working on a math test), or otherwise sad (sitting alone during recess). Meanwhile, the boy’s cat is on a parallel adventure, moving about the town with a smile on his face. Finally, when boy and cat are together, readers see the boy start to smile too (a callback to an earlier line about “missing the one you love”) as he admits that he might perhaps like a story about a cat.

Overall, I Do Not Like Stories is sweet and simple, with an interesting colour palette of grays and blues with the occasional “pop” of yellow and orange. It would appeal to a very early reader as the sentences are easy enough to read themselves, but it could also foster an interesting discussion with an older reader.