BOOKS: What Are You So Grumpy About?

Congratulations to Joy Mast for winning this week's book giveaway!  While this contest is now closed, please come back to SixSeeds for more giveaways for good, family, fun!

At SixSeeds, we believe in the power of a good story... even the books our small children are hearing and reading.  Stories have an amazing power to move, inspire, and sometimes even transform lives... even young lives. This week, we take a popular kids' book and examine it. Hopefully, the next time you're browsing though a crowded bookstore...  you can choose wisely!

Title: What Are You So Grumpy About?

Author & Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company

Cost: $11.19

Buy it: here 

Come on, don’t you smile.

Don’t. You. Dare. Smile.

Sound familiar? Tom Lichtenheld has written a book that feels similar to that well known distraction that parents employ on light hearted days, when even tantrums seem surprisingly cute.

What Are You So Grumpy About? takes the reader on a humorous journey into the woes of childhood. For example:

Did your peas and gravy touch?

Did your sister touch you?

The treacheries of childhood will come flooding back to Mom and Dad.  Who doesn’t remember having to get “all dressed up and go to somebody’s house where everything was weird and fragile, so you had to keep your hands to yourself and you could hardly move while the adults talked about boring junk.”   

Lichtenheld writes in a way that gives weight to the feelings and experience of kids. (It may feel like their chore list is literally a mile long.)   But, his understated and humorous style indicate it might not be as bad as kids think.

He presents this healthy reality without even a hint of lecture. In fact, he says,

 “… any ‘moral’ in my books is the by-product of an interesting story. My goal is to do books that kids are naturally attracted to, because kids can sniff-out a lecture a mile away and it sends them running. So, I try not to do books that are blatantly message-driven.”

(Parents could probably learn a thing or two from this philosophy.  It’s worth noting, my twelve-year old son pointed out that the author understands how kids feel.) Lichtenheld prioritizes understanding kids. He keeps pictures of children in his writing studio for inspiration. ”What would make that kid laugh?” he asks, looking at each one.  

If you pride yourself on being cool, you might be slightly offended by the way adults are portrayed. Dad comes off as quite a nerd when he takes his kid to “the most boring museum.” A kid forced to wear this goofy outfit comments that, “I look like Dad when he is going golfing.”  

The Bottom Line:

Your kids will enjoy this book, and Lichtenheld's words serve as an endorsement of their own, “A good children’s book will be interesting to adults.” (Especially if you just admit your golfing get-up isn’t as snazzy as it was when you bought it during the Reagan administration.)

For Parents to Consider:

The book ends with the child laughing.  (Of course, he’s being tickled.)

How do we handle our kid’s grumpiness? Is our first inclination to help them get over it by distraction?  Distraction is a parental technique we all use from time to time. While it has its purpose, what problems could this lead to later in life?

What to Talk to Your Kids About:

What makes you grumpy?

How do you handle it?

What sort of things do you turn to when you are feeling this way?

Are these distractions always good?

We are giving this book away this week! Please leave a comment for a chance to win. We always love to hear from you.

On one week from publication at noon (EST), we'll pick a name in a random drawing from all eligible entries received and send you an email notification.  When you receive your package in the mail, you'll find out which book you received!

Limit one (1) entry per person; NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Open only to legal residents of the 50 United States and Washington D.C. who are 18 or older as of date of entry.