Olive and the Bad Mood
It has happened to us all: sometimes a bad mood strikes with no good reason. When kitty Olive realizes this is not a good day, she doesn’t mind sharing her feelings with, well, everybody. She won’t play with Molly because dinosaurs are for babies. When Matt asks if Olive likes his new hat, she informs him she hates the floppy topper. So it goes with all her friends. But then Olive comes to the candy store. Now, candy, that’s something that makes her happy, and the more gummy worms she eats, the better she feels. Soon she cheerfully greets her friends, who by now are totally bummed . . . until she shares her worms. (Amusingly, when all the candy quickly disappears, the black cloud reappears over Olive’s head.) Freeman makes moodiness awfully funny and does so economically in the ink-and-watercolor artwork—so many emotions are exhibited with so few lines. It’s rare that a picture book can make the audience identify with all the characters, but this one will have kids feeling bad, mad, and glad by turns. Preschool. --Ilene Cooper