The Best Bad Day Ever

By Author / Illustrator

Marianna Coppo

Genre

Friends and family

Age range(s)

Publisher

Frances Lincoln Children's Books

ISBN

9780711293397

Format

Paperback / softback

Expected

09-05-2024

Synopsis

A hilarious exploration of grumpiness: this is a book for any child who has ever woken up to find everything unreasonably annoying.

Today is a terrible day for Wolfie: it's cloudy (there is a single cloud), the water in the bubble bath is ice cold, there aren't enough chocolate chips in the cookies, and everyone else seems to be having an amazing day (lucky them). No one understands Wolfie at school. But then Penguin comes along... and she does understand. Suddenly things start to get a whole lot better.

This is a story about how when you're feeling misunderstood, sometimes all it takes to change your perspective completely, is a like-minded friend.

A wonderful and relatable story about the loneliness that comes with feeling grumpy and how a friend can give a rainy or cloudy day, a sunny new spin. It reassures children while encouraging them to look out for others going through a hard time. Funny for both children and adults alike-while children will delight at the funny dissonance between text and image, the parents will recognise the all too relatable tale of out-of-proportion toddler grumpiness.

Drawn in a simplistic, cute style that will put a smile on even the grumpiest of faces, this sweet book is a visual treat. Watch as Wolfie's striking frowny face spreads giggles from reader to listener. A lovely book that reflects unexpected crabby feelings perfectly and can comfort on days when kids have got up on the wrong side of the bed.

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Reviews

Marianna Coppo's books are extremely creative and quite frankly different from any other author I've ever encountered, so I couldn't wait to get stuck into her newest title, The Best Bad Day Ever. This book is about the power of mindset and perceptions and The Best Bad Day Ever will absolutely resonate with any child, teen or adult who has woken up with a grumpy mindset.

Things just aren't going Wolfie's way today. His glass of milk is half empty, the bath is too cold and, worst of all, everyone else is happy… or are they? Just to top off Wolfie's morning, he arrives late to school and despite numerous options there is nothing he fancies engaging with! He is finding aspects of school a challenge which is causing him to disengage, feel lonely and be misunderstood.

Penguin is like-minded and appears to have similar struggles to Wolfie, so eventually they both sit and bond in their 'grumpiness'! Wolfie and Penguin see that it is ok to be different. In fact, being different can be rather fun and by the time the day ends, they don't want to leave school.

The Best Bad Day Ever addresses and celebrates so many topics, from accepting others to the power of mindset. It's a great book to share with a group of children or to share at parent workshops to bond over children's out of proportion grumpiness!

It's important to note that having a good view of the illustrations is essential for the understanding of this book as it is all about perceptions. There needs to be more books like this which help us to look at our behaviours and attitudes from an outside perspective, to help us to learn, grow and better manage the complexity of feelings.

Picture book / Reviewed by Jessica Bunney, teacher