Olive and the Bad Mood by Tor Freeman
I loved Tor Freeman's Olive and the Big Secret, which came out last year and I waited eagerly for Olive's next adventure! Finally here, Olive's Bad Mood is every bit as fun, funny, linearly paced and in tune with the ups and downs of kidhood as Olive and the Big Secret. Both of Freeman's Olive books have teachable moments, which is something I usually avoid in picture books because it's so hard to be subtle and successful, most books of this nature proving heavy handed and didactic. Freeman's Olive is definitely more subtle and successful, especially since she is not always skillful about how she handles herself, her stories being a healthy mix of, "Don't be like Olive, but I know you probably will at some point and if you do, this is how you might want to handle things..."
Olive's bad mood beings when she trips and falls. Rather than dissipating, it intensifies as she goes about her day. When Molly invites her to play dinosaurs, her mood gets the best of her and she snaps, "No, dinosaurs are for babies." The little black could that is hovering over Olive's head now pops up over Molly's as well... Matt and his new hat, Joe and his soccer ball, Ziggy and his tunes and friendly Lola all get the little-black-cloud treatment from Olive until she finds herself at the candy store. A giant bag of jelly worms in her hand, Olive happily walks and chomps down the street until she finds her friends and they're ALL IN A BAD MOOD! Olive happily shares her jelly worms and things seem to turn around for everyone. That is, until Olive realizes that her bag of candy is empty... I can't wait to see what Olive and her pals get up to next!
Source: Review Copy
Source: Review Copy
