Grump Groan Growl
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From legendary author and critic bell hooks and multi-Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka comes a fresh look at bad moods, perfect for fans of Grumpy Monkey and The Pout Pout Fish.
Here's a positive way to face our bad, grumpy, and wild moods! Acclaimed writer bell hooks offers a vision of calm with a soothingly rhythmic text, while award-winning artist Chris Raschka's vibrant art adds a healthy dose of compassion and humor, reminding readers that sometimes you just have to go inside and let it slide.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hooks and Raschka (Be Boy Buzz; Skin Again) charge this temperamental book with few words but ample emotion. The alliterative title alone demands a loud delivery, and each of the three key words gets a noisy spread all to itself ( Grump-/ Groan-/ Growl/ Bad mood on the prowl ). Raschka, working in loose India ink over airy, multicolored watercolor wash, scrawls a short-legged, leonine monster and its alter ego, an angry curly-haired child. The creature recalls one of Sendak's Wild Things, albeit roughly sketched with a thick brush. A zigzag blue line of teeth superimposed across the glowering monster's dark mouth in several images implies a temporary sharpness, but not permanent antagonism. Similarly, hooks's words acknowledge how hard it is to avoid negativity ( Can't stand outside/ Can't hide ). At the conclusion, the words Just go inside, recommend a time-out for easing out of the mood. On the closing page, Just let it slide, the S of slide becomes a chair where the once-belligerent child lounges and his inner monster naps beneath (not gone, but relaxed). With its intensity and understanding, this bad-mood book rivals Jules Feiffer's I'm Not Bobby! and Molly Bang's When Sophie Gets Angry "Really, Really Angry.... Ages 3-up.
