Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsDisappointing Message.
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2019
I understand the message this book is conveying. I do. It's ok to be you, and you won't always be happy. I get that...but the way this story is portrayed is very disappointing.
I bought this for my 7 yr old niece who was born with a hole in her brain. She is mentally and physically handicapped, not in ways you'd notice right off the bat but she is definitely a very grumpy child who is more irrational than most, if you can even imagine that.
The story line for this book is very disappointing, for one reason. It starts out with a grumpy Jim. He's grumpy & doesn't know why. He essentially lashes out to all his friends in the jungle who are trying to help him feel better and turn around his mood, then runs off on his own feeling bad about being mean to his friends....and that's really it! HE NEVER APOLOGIES to his friends who were just trying to help him! To me that sends such a bad message. You can send the message, it's ok to be grumpy sometimes but still be respectful to your friends or at least show that it's wrong to lash out! Very disappointing message here. I'm hesitant to even give this book to my niece. Not sure if I'll be keeping this one, it just doesn't seem like a right fit to me.
The book itself, is very well constructed. It is definitely not a cheap book by any means. This seems like the quality of something you'd buy at Barnes & Noble but spend $30 instead of $10. The illustration isn't that great. It starts out with very vibrant colors but quickly dulls down to flat and dark colors for mostly the remainder fo the book.
Overall, I'm very disappointed with this book because of the message it sends. They had a great opportunity to show that sometimes you need to apologise for being mean when you're grumpy.
