Grumpy Monkey
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the The Why-Askers stage.
Why it fits The Why-Askers (for preschoolers whose every page sparks a question)
Jim Panzee is grumpy and everyone's fixes make it worse. Its radical message: you're allowed to feel bad for a while. Preschool emotional honesty with jungle-sized laughs.
What makes it special
Its message is quietly radical in a fix-it-fast culture: sometimes you're grumpy, and you're allowed to just be grumpy for a while. Max Lang's jungle of well-meaning advice-givers earns real laughs while the point sinks in. The final spread — grumpy together, in companionable silence — is friendship drawn exactly right.
From the publisher
Jim the chimpanzee is in a terrible mood for no good reason. His friends can t understand it how can he be in a bad mood when it s SUCH a beautiful day? They encourage him not to hunch, to smile, and to do things that…
About Suzanne Lang
Suzanne Lang is an Emmy-winning children's TV writer and producer whose Grumpy Monkey — illustrated by her husband, animation director Max Lang — hit #1 on the New York Times list and spawned a mood-honest series.
Also by this author: Grumpy Monkey Party Time! · Grumpy Monkey Up All Night
More from “Big Feelings, First Friendships”
This book is part of The Best Books for Preschoolers: 30 Teacher Picks (The Why-Askers) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.