What Can a Mess Make?

by Bee Johnson

In this gorgeously illustrated rhyming picture book, two sisters spend their day playing at home and leaving joyful, cozy messes in their wake.

Kitchen clatter.
Milk and juice.
Syrup splatter.
Chocolate mousse.
Bowl of berries―
Red and blue.
A mess can make a meal for two.

From a cozy breakfast together to crafts, fort-building, kitchen spills, and bedtime rituals, these sisters make tons of messes.

Imaginative, playful, forgiving, delicious messes.

And their messes make a day full of possibilities.

With bouncy rhyming language and warm illustrations, What Can A Mess Make? inspires readers to embrace their imaginations, linger in the beautiful messes on every page, and make some messes themselves.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Family, Storytime, Plays, Fiction, Friendship

48 pages, Hardcover

Published August 20, 2024

Reviews

[Sarah Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Precious text with sweet illustrations that touched my heart as a mom of two little mess-maker sisters. This was a beautifully done book.

[Jamie Johnson Leach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for my summer program 😊💜

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mess can make all my muscles tense, my mood sour, and my day worse. No thank you!

Most definitely not for me.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitchen clatter.
Milk and juice.
Syrup splatter.
Chocolate mousse.
Bowl of berries—red and blue.
A mess can make
a meal for two.

From breakfast to bedtime, from pillow fort to pillow fight, two sisters make all kinds of messes. Imaginative, playful, delicious messes. And their messes can make
a day full of possibilities.

My daughter had the nerve to be annoyed with all the mess the two girls were making as if she doesn’t make their level of mess ON HER OWN! I love when a children’s book has a message for the grownups. I stressed over her messy playroom until recently…my aunt said, “Who cares?! It’s a playroom!”🤣 And growing up with 3 boys, our house was crazy😭 but it was LIT. Not once have I looked back and said, “I wish my room was more clean.”

This book reminds us that although children are messy and can leave the house chaotic, there’s beauty in the mess. There’s learning in the mess. Embrace it. I’m constantly reminded that these years will fly by in the blink of an eye. I’d hate to look back on memories of a clean house but no fun. Picture perfect rooms but no wild memories in them. I want a well-lived home❤️. Highly recommend!

[Rosario Buitrago · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is a favorite! This is a story that can resonate with children and adults alike. It is a reminder that making mistakes is okay, being yourself can be messy, and at any point in time it’s okay to pivot!

[Rachel Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great to pair with an activity

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and surprising.
Love the depiction of the sisters' relationship-- cooperation, a storm but then a truce.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Bee Johnson, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley.

This audiobook is narrated by Karissa Vacker. Ms. Vacker has a soft, cheerful voice, perfect for this book. This is a high quality production with fun background music, a guitar it sounds like, as well as noises that match the narrative. This helps to enhance the narrative.

This is primarily a poem about the toys and chaos left in the wake of children's activities. Whether at meal or at play, a mess is the result of a fun day.

Thank you to Bee Johnson, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

We just got this book a few weeks ago but it feels like we've had it forever.
It's beautifully illustrated and the text flows effortlessly.

An instant favorite in our house - my kids have been requesting it daily!

[Stephanie ((Strazzybooks)) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and encourages children’s creativity

[Abbigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars -- really sweet sister vibes on top of the general fun of making a mess. This is a good picture book for parents who struggle with mess-- let's just embrace the chaos and the good parts of mess if it's going to happen anyway.

[Kim Bohac · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can a mess make is the best picture book I’ve read this year! Miss Johnson’s poetry and intricate pictures captures the true friendship of these young girls. Wonderful picture book to introduce poetry to younger grades.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable book. Reminded me to embrace the mess instead of always rushing to clean it up.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Can a Mess Make? is an adorable delight of a picture book. With fun rhymes, cute illustrations, and a fresh mess on every page, this is a book kids are sure to have fun with. It goes over the different types of mess you can make, whether that be cooking, making music, fighting, napping, or imaginative play, it offers up a variety of situations. Recommended for sure!

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

what can a mess make? memories :)

[kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

adorable concept and illustrations!

[Y.Poston]

A delightful homage to mess-making,
adorable imagery & a great exploration
for making a mess!

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two adorable sisters make a lot of messes, which turn out to be the very stuff of creativity in most instances, plus the occasional kerfuffle or accident, which turn into fortunate happenstances, too. Bless their mother, who puts up with all of it. Vibrant and engaging illustrations show how much fun can be had when the imagination has free rein and room to roam with no fear of making messes or mistakes.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an educator, I've often been shocked by the experiences students have shared with me that they have not been permitted to have at home, such as creating art and building with their imagination. Many students said they couldn't use markers, tape, glue, or other materials at home that their parents deemed too messy. This book is a beautiful reminder that often, in the daily messes of childhood, there are amazing things happening! We need to be willing to embrace that childhood can be messy, but therein lies so much magic and critical development. I loved this book!

[Talia Messina · Rating 5 out of 5]

ABSOLUTELY one of my new favorite books. First, I love sister stories. Second, I love that it shows the creativity that comes out of messes but also doesn’t shy away from the negative aspects and stress that messes cause. Third, this artwork is PHENOMENAL. It’s warm and peppered with hidden things to find. I’m so in love with this book.

[WhiteDF · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 2026 KY Bluegrass Award book nominated for the pre-school level was a sweet reminder that little ones learn best when allowed the freedom to make a mess. I cringe at a mess-making, but find myself much more relaxed when it's my grandchild making the "messes". Let the magic happen then clean it up together. <3

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, dreamy artwork, detailed background and foreground, pleasant rhyme and delight in messes: wonderful book to read with kids who might not be neat but whose imagination may help them see the beauty in a creative mess.

[Patricia Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations alone are 5 stars. Being a parent, all I could see were 2 sisters and a huge mess.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adore this book!

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two sisters create chaos and mess which in turn leads to imagination and creativity.

A wonderful story of what can be created from "a mess".

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"What Can a Mess Make" by Bee Johnson is a children's picture book. This is a review of the audiobook only.

It is about all the messy things and what they can make. This is read well by Karissa Vacker and enhanced nicely with related sound effects and music.

Where this audiobook fails is that the conclusion of each mess is not clear at all! Listening to this book, I'm really lost as to what meal was made for two, what the masterpiece looked like, or anything else. A listener with impaired vision, whether a child or adult, is not likely going to get the point of this book. The audiobook needs further enhancement to adapt this for vision impaired listeners.

Thank you to Netgalley, MacMillan Audio, MacMillan Young Listeners, and Bee Johnson for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

[Andrés · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book truly finds beauty in mess, teaching both children and adults a valuable lesson. The lyrical text is impeccable, reminiscent of another favorite, All the World, by Liz Garton Scanlon). The page spreads are in couples: one shows the set-up, and the next shows the result. We see the sisters make a meal for two, a marching band, a place to rest, a masterpiece, a snack to share, a shouting match, a mended bracelet, a change in plans, and a good nights sleep. I love seeing the dynamics between the sisters, and I love their independence. We only see a parent on one page. The illustrations are lovely with so many details to inspect, and it's fun to look for little sister's giraffe on each page, too.

[Nicole Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book for my honest opinion.

What good can come from a mess? Well, actually, quite a lot! I loved this book in so many ways. Life is messy and this book is a great way to remind us of that. The illustrations are beautiful with cool little treasures to be found on every messy page. I loved how different the sisters are and how every little mess brings a purpose not only to the girls in learning and using their imagination, but also learning how to be responsible, flexible, and just how to have fun. A great book to remind kids (and parents!) that a mess can be a good thing sometimes.

[Jared White · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title perfectly sums up what this book is about, how messes can lead to a number of delightful (and sometimes not-so-delightful) things and situations. The illustrations in this are wonderful, they're warm, cozy, and chaotic (and made me only cringe a few times at the messes that were being created). I also thought this captured the sibling relationship well, most of the time they're having a splendid time together, until they're not, but then all's soon forgiven.

I think this may work alright in an elementary storytime, but some of the pages are quite detailed, and I think some of the book's charm is found in those details.

[phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wish i could give this 5 stars so badly, because it was perfect in every single way except for the fact that there was an evil eye in one of the illustrations. this makes me so sad because i really would've loved to have been able to own a copy of this beautiful, beautiful book, and i would've wanted my kids to be able to grow up with it. really sad stuff. the illustrations are mesmerizing, the art style is so nice, and it is so well-written. qualities that are very rare in children's books today. it's genuinely such a perfect book aside from that one flaw. feelsbadman.

technical notes-
read from borrowed copy at college as we were rubric grading 2024 children's books.