One of the BEST Books Ever. EVER.

**I've never done a review on my blog, and no, no one asked me to or anything. We just love this book so much that I want to share it with everyone, because it's that good of a book.**


I love books. Love them. I think it comes from growing up with a mum who worked in an amazing university bookstore, so I spent lots of time there after school, waiting for her to get off work. I loved their kids section, they had such a great selection of books. Plus we had a great library system in Hamilton, the kids section was huge. Or at least, it appeared to be at the time... I don't know if it actually is... anyways. We had a good amount of childrens authors come to read to us there, it was great. I wish our library here could get childrens authors to read here.

ANYWAYS.

When M started preschool at Carmichael, she started getting the Scholastic flyers every month to bring home. Heeeaaavvveeennnn!!!!! I loved those things as a kid, and now as a parent, I could finally order whatever books caught my fancy. And I ordered. Oh, how I ordered. The prices are just so great, who can resist! We've gotten some great books from that, but I want to tell you about one book that caught my eye. I'd never heard of it, but the bright colors and great illustration on the cover drew me to it, and I had to get it.

Let me introduce you to Grumpy Bird.


Isn't he adorable??? Don't let him hear you say that, it might make him angry. See, he's grumpy today. He doesn't want to even fly, he's so grumpy. Lucky for him he has some (equally well drawn and cute) friends around to cheer him up. Raccoon, Sheep, Rabbit, Beaver and Fox all find Bird's walking fascinating and decided to walk too, which ends up making Bird realize that he doesn't need to be grumpy when he's got great friends around.

The author is Jeremy Tankard and I have to say, even though he only has three books out at this time, for me his writing and illustrations (yes, he does both in his books!!) are in the same elite category of adoration as Robert Munsch. Plus he's a Canadian, just like Robert Munsch (and meeee!), we must make creativity really flow up there.

Sorry, back to the book.

The bright bold colors just catch your eye, and the storyline is so cute that you can't help but get into reading the book, voicing each animal in a different way, and getting louder to show Birds frustrations.


The kids love Grumpy Bird, they get really into it and now that we've read it so often they call out Birds replies to his friends. Even J loves this book, at 1.5 years he's hard to keep still to read to, but the bright colors and details catch his attention and he loves it. I often find him in M and Ps bedroom, looking at the pictures in the book.


This really is a perfect childrens book. It's not too many words that the kids lose interest halfway through, the illustrations are bold and whimsical and just demand attention. The storyline isn't boring for the parent either, I get as into the book as the kids do. And best of all, it's one of those books you can pull out when someone's getting grumpy (even yourself!) and by the end of the book, everyone is giggling and happy again.

Mr. Tankard also has Me Hungry! out, and just published Boo Hoo Bird. My mum was generous enough to snatch up Boo Hoo Bird for us at her local Borders, since our book buying abilities have been weakened from M getting out of school, and not many local places sell a good selection of books. Boo Hoo Bird is just as perfect as Grumpy Bird, and the kids are already getting into the boo hoo'ing in this book. I really hope Mr. Tankard keeps publishing childrens books, because I will definitely keep buying them. Now... we just need to get our hands on Me Hungry!

I'll stop raving about this book now, especially since the kids are outside on their bikes, and I have a feeling we might just need to read Boo Hoo Bird soon, in case of a fall or two.