The Very Grumpy Day by Stella J Jones & Alison Edgson

Age Range: 3 to 6Everybody has grumpy days and today it’s Bear’s turn! We really love this simple but fun story which is great for showing children how their moods can affect the moods of those around them and how the power of kindness can often help to solve a problem.The Story: Mouse has a present for Bear but Bear isn’t home, he’s gone out in a very grumpy mood! Bear’s grumpiness has a knock on effect on his friends in the wood and soon Mole, Hedgehog, Fox, the squirrel family and Owl are all feeling grumpy too. Even the weather joins in and it starts to rain but then Bear finds Mouse’s present and his mood changes…Mouse’s kindness ultimately helps everybody in this story of animal friendship. Bear’s stomping has an impact on Mole and then Hedgehog becomes involved which causes Fox to drop his shopping. However, in the same way that Bear’s grumpy mood has an impact on everybody so does his apology. By the time that Mouse joins the animals they have all apologised to each other and they are all happy again!We love stories where one action has an impact on another action. The Very Grumpy Day is fun to read and adds humour to a familiar situation. You just have to keep turning the page to find out how each animal’s action causes another action! Alison Edgson’s animals are cute and appealing and we love many of their expressions, especially Fox’s expression when he drops his shopping and Hedgehog’s smile when Mole hugs him. The final spread is our favourite, it shows Fox reading his book to his friends.The Very Grumpy Day would be a great story to stimulate a classroom discussion about emotions and help children talk about what makes them grumpy and how they can deal with this emotion. They could also talk about how they would help a friend who is feeling grumpy. This would also be a fun story to include in an Early Years topic on animals and / or woods and forests, children could suggest other woodland animals that could be included in the story.This is a great story to cheer a child up when they are having a grumpy day. It’s also a lovely, gentle story to read at bedtime.Author: Stella J Jones / Illustrator: Alison EdgsonThank you to Little Tiger Press for sending us a copy of The Very Grumpy Day. We’re delighted to see that we can also buy a German translation of this lovely story 🙂