What are You So Grumpy About?

by Tom Lichtenheld

There are lots of excuses for being a grump, and this book is full of em. But in this book, the things that make you grumpy can actually be funny. So be careful, or you'll end up laughing at your own grumpiness. And, as you'll soon find out, it's hard to be giggly and grumpy at the same time.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, Emotion, Fiction, Storytime, Realistic Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Children's book author/illustrator writes for kids who love to laugh and grown-ups who love to laugh along with them. When not making up stories and drawing silly pictures, he likes to get other people's kids all riled-up then send them home to their parents.

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think my favorite page is either, Did your brother/sister touch you? or Did your gravy touch your peas?

The pictures in this book are perfect. Altough, I think you have to be a parent to appreciate how great this book is.

[Gavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny. My wife is a comedian...picking out kid books in lieu of telling me I'm grumpy...how clever.

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to read to a child when he or she is out of sorts. The book asks a series of questions to determine why the child is grumpy. "Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed?" "Did you get a package on your birthday...and it turned out to be boring stuff?" The pictures are humorous, but sometimes it's difficult to read the text that is sometimes part of the picture, as in the washing machine with the words, "Were all your favorite clothes in the laundry..." The endpapers show sure cures for grumpiness, and the ending is cute, making this a potential mood-lifter.

[Dianna · Rating 1 out of 5]

The cover is the most endearing part of this book. If you can get past the hard-to-read letters inside, you'll find not one, not two, but three crass jokes involving toilets, underwear, and bosoms. I say three strikes and you're out. I'm looking to read to my children about the best in life, because I want them to be their best. This sort of book doesn't interest me. I'd far rather see original, wholesome laughs from my kids than cheap bathroom ones.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son was reciting something from this book at dinner tonight as a joke, so we remembered to add it to our bookshelves; it's been 2 years since we read it over, and over, and over. I remember unstoppable laughing fits with my then 1st grader. He had just recently made a funny to-do list that I'm now realizing was inspired by this book, too! A MUST-READ, especially for hippy kids!

[Maicie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy Reader.

Adorable. My husband and I giggled over this book. Funny pictures, funny writing. We both want to own this book. (Shut up - we know we're odd....and don't care.)

HS uses: emotions. Just for fun.

[David E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great illustrations, yes, truly fantastic. But this book is so funny that a few pages in I am roaring, tears rolling down my face. It's a bit bawdy, wildly imaginative, so clever. But mainly ... FUNNY!

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so funny! My kids love it -and even my almost 2 year old is requesting it every night and reciting the words. Their daddy is a good reader, and this book makes them all giggle. Highly recommended!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books to read to my brothers... they laugh everytime and make me read it at least 3 times in a row. This book can't help but make you smile.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A standalone picture book for two- to six-year-old readers, technically, and revolving around the "horrors" of childhood in a series of cartoons.

My Take
Dang, Lichtenheld starts off being funny with the endpapers! You could probably spend a couple of bedtime story-reading sessions just exploring the squares and talking about whether the activities would make you happy or grumpy or turn you from grumpy into happy, lol.

What are YOU So Grumpy About? explores all the horrors of being a kid in a series of cartoons that will make you LAUGH-OUT-LOUD. Yep, this was too funny to be reduced to a mere acronym!

"I look like Dad when he goes golfing."

That list of chores could well inspire the kids to create more of their own ideas of truly horrible, disgusting ones. There's just something about "vacuum backyard" that makes me laugh even more. Oh, oh, oh, and the truly "popular" grump-making action: a sibling, ack, touching you!! A LOT of details to laugh about in this one, ROFL.

The one of a kid getting, ahem, lost really resonates for me. I hated having to kiss auntie or uncle…they either smelled funny or were so bristly!

I do love the richness of Lichtenfeld's graphics with his use of a combination of colored pencil, ink, gouache, and watercolor. Absolutely amazing.

Oh, yeah, this is one for kids…and parents. Absolute realism treated with great wit and humor…excuse me while I run, very quickly, off to the loo!

The Story
There are lots of reasons to be a grump. And even more to laugh about, for it's hard to be giggly and grumpy at the same time.

The Cover and Title
The cover is not about the contrast, that's for sure. It has a side radial gradient of light rust to darker rust (it looks like a gouache base with an intricate use of penciled crosshatch to achieve the shading). What really grabs your eye is that huge face in profile, chin in hands, a black brow arched in grumpiness with a shock of red hair on his head, as an unhappy boy looks on at a cheery little bluebird sitting on a twig and asking What are YOU So Grumpy About?, which is in black and a font that looks all twitchy in a scripty, serify, angular way. The author's name is in white and all caps, spanning the entire width of the bottom.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a boy who is a bit grumpy. Throughout the book we explore possible reasons for his bad mood including stubbing his toe or his gravy touching his peas. By the end of the book somebody has tickled him and he has completely forgotten why he was grumpy in the first place. This book has some great humorous illustrations and the words are often hidden/ camouflaged within the illustrations so could potentially be difficult to read out as a class. The reasons for being grumpy are funny and some exaggerated. I think it’s a good book to demonstrate to children that although at times it may seem that the world is ending or working against you, putting things into perspective and looking at the bigger picture usually you find that what happened wasn’t that bad and in most cases are quite quickly forgotten. I would suggest for Key stage one. Although the words are quite difficult to find and read so would probably have to be a group/ class read book, I think once the children knew the storey they would enjoy looking through the pictures especially in the inside cover to discuss the cures for grumpiness.

[Cierra Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish somebody would've given me this book to read when I was younger! Every time I would get in a grumpy mood as a kid, my parents would always say "don't smile, your face will crack!" and naturally I did and that was the end of the bad mood. Humor is almost always the key to kicking crabby moods to the curb. This would be a great book to read to a student one on one. It's probably most appropriate for grades K-1, but would work for second grade too. If a student comes into class in a bad mood, continuously keeps getting upset by little things, or just seems to be in a grouchy funk, taking them aside to read this to them, or letting them read it themselves could make a huge difference. This story does a great job turning all of the days annoyances into something to joke about. Some of the examples given in the story for why grumpiness could come about include, being touched by your brother or sister, doing chores, and having your gravy run into your peas! The illustrations in this book are so incredible that even if the story doesn't make him or her feel better, the pictures surely will!

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book describes numerous comical situations that a child may be grumpy about. “Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed?” “Did you stub your toe?” This book goes through different feelings a child might be experiencing such as grumpy, sad, happy, and so on. I would use this book during morning meetings to talk about feelings or situations where someone is not feeling happy. Children may give a reason describing how they feel that morning. It is a fun way to start the school day on a positive note by discussing how the children may feel on that particular day. The illustrations are fun and unique. The words are not clearly printed in straight lines like a normal book, but printed in a way to describe the feeling expressed on that page. Great book to use to aid in creating a classroom community.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Picture Book
Audience: K-3rd
Topic: Moods
Theme: Not letting little things ruin your day
Curricular Uses: Read Aloud, Independent Reading
Reading Level: Late Early Readers
Literary Elements: Personification, repetition, questioning
Illustrations: Very creative! Over the top illustrations bring out the humor in this story. Support the text, and even includes more text in the illustrations.
Additional Comments: This can be a tough read because of the fancy text in the book. There are a lot of words on each page. I think children would really enjoy reading this book on their own because it is very different from other books I have read. They will certainly find the humor in it and understand that they should not let little things bother them.

[Jenna Spinazzola · Rating 4 out of 5]

genre: picture book

audience: k - 3rd

topic: moods

theme: not letting little things ruin your day

curricular uses: read aloud, independent reading

reading level: late early readers

literary elements: personification, repetition, questioning

illustrations: creative, over the top illustrations, brings out humor in the story, supports the text and includes more text in the illustrations

thoughts: the book was a little hard to read because of the fancy print in the book. some pages were harder to follow than others, but i like the message that it gives to the readers about not letting little things completely ruin your day.

[Molly Robbins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit confusing to me. There is not clear text on the pages as they are pretty blended in with the pictures. I would definitely not recommend this book for young readers, or students who struggle with reading. There are lots of different colors, and it talks about a child who is grumpy through the whole book. This would be efficient to read to the whole class and really talk about how we need to try our best and put ourselves in a better mood for ours, and everyone else's sake. You could extend this by having them do a writing assignment on ways they can improve their bad mood so that they are happy, and everyone around them can be happy too.

[Mattie Troyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE this book! It is a sure guarantee to end anyone's bad day with a smile and couple of giggles. Life is hard sometimes especially as a kid when everything seem so permanent. Tom Lichtenheld did a great job in depicting what would make a little boy grumpy. I think it is spot on too! Not just for a little boy but any child and maybe sometimes even adults. The book is an easy read and is set up in question form which makes it really fun. This is a great book to read to your grumpy child or student, it is a good gentle reminder about what really matters in life. So let's not let the little things make us grumpy!

[Jennifer Rampton]

Title: What are you so grumpy about?
Bibliographic Reference: Lichtenheld, T (2003). What are you so grumpy about?. New York, NY: Little, Brown Young Readers.
Summary: This is a book on feelings. It goes through several different basic feelings and what you feel or go through when you are grumpy, happy, and sad, etc. It shows pictures of what you look like when you are upset. I would use this book to talk about feelings with my students and how its okay to feel and talk about different feelings.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book involves some very comical illustrations portraying the various reasons of why you could be grumpy. Inside the covers also provides a list of "sure cures" for when you're grumpy. BY the time the reader is done he/she probably won't even remember why they were grumpy. There was one illustration that I found somewhat inappropriate- the reason for grumpiness is your grandma gave you a BIG o'hug when you she saw you and then the illustration shows a rather large grandma on a newspaper headed "Boy Lost in grandma's Bosom." It was funny but a little extreme for young readers.

[Scott Roark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Students would love this book, because it relates to them in one way or another. Everything seems to be going wrong with the boy in the book (name is never provided). The author gives different scenarios that may have put the boy in a bad mood, such as 'did your gravy touch your peas'. Teacher can stress to the class that they understand that everyone can't be in the best mood everyday, but they must realize that of their fellow classmates. I would recommend this book to students that seem to be having a particular difficult day.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny read that suggests a number of things that might bring a kid down such as having to eat adult cereal or getting cooties from a brother or sister's touch.

Illustrations were rendered in ink, colored pencil, gouache, and watercolor.

This book reminds me of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. The content of this title makes it a suitable read aloud, however, the text is artistically rendered making it difficult to read on certain spreads. PreK-2.

[Crazy Uncle Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the funniest little kid books I have read in a long time. When I read it to my son I think he was more entertained by watching daddy crack up than he was by the actual book. The great thing about this book is all the extra little jokes that are in there for the benefit of the grown-ups who are reading it. It was also a very funny reminder of how, as a child, everything your parents talk about seems so mind-numbingly boring.

[Iman Tabbaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Are You So Grumpy About is a great book about all the reasons kids can be grumpy. Sometimes the kids are grumpy because they didn't get the cereal hey wanted or because kids stub there toe. The end of the book states that sometimes all it takes for you not to be grumpy is to laugh. On the inside cover of this book it list lots of things a child do to deal with or break their grumpiness such as; singing loudly or making snow angles.

[Romelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

What are You So Grumpy About by Tom Lichtenheld is a great example of how pictures add to the humor of the story. Without the clever illustrations, the book would just be a list of things that can make you grumpy, which is all this book is about. But young readers will enjoy this picture book as they can relate to many of the situations. I love the ending because it ties it all together in a nice bow.

[Nashiea Edmiston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book as much as my kids, if not more. This book uses very detailed illustrations to show reasons why someone might be "grumpy." The ending is darling, the entire book is just hilarious. A must for classrooms/libraries to remind children that it's normal to be a bit grumpy and maybe by the time they're done reading/listening to this book, they won't even remember why they were grumpy to begin with!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our whole family just couldn't stop laughing after reading this book. You have to read everything, like the sides of the cereal boxes and the newspaper article, in the book. It will make you giggle. This book is highly appropriate for my 4 year old "Mr. Grumpo" who always wakes up on the wrong side of the bed.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have ever read. It made me laugh out loud. When I read it to my parents, I could barely make it through. Though they didn't laugh as much as I did. The pictures are great and the little side lights are wonderful. I originally got it for my grandkids, but I need a copy in my house just for a good laugh.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

We wanted to read a funny book this evening. I picked this one up with a little hesitation, because some "let's discuss our feelings"-type of books are definitely not of the humor genre. But this book was a winner! Very funny stuff. (Warning: it may be a little bit too crude for some people's taste. . . .Just barely.)

[Khadija Bensaadoun · Rating 3 out of 5]

A silly story about the things that can make you grumpy. I can use this book to teach students how to deal with their emotions. If they are feeling sad or mad they can always come to me for help rather then deal with it in an unhealthy way. The students can engage in a text to self activity where they would describe a moment that made them grumpy. Grades prek-2nd.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really funny and cute. Great use of wordplay and the illustrations are hilarious. Great for storytimes, and the humour is good of school aged children, probably grades 2-4 would be best. Also, a good example of how emotions are triggered and fleeting. Sometimes you're upset and you're not quite sure why.