Thursday, September 17, 2020

Mootilda's Bad Mood by Corey Rosen Schwartz, Kirsti Call, ill. by Claudia Ranucci

Mootilda's Bad Mood by Corey Rosen Schwartz and Kirsti Call, illustrated by Claudia Ranucci, is out now from Little Bee Books/Simon and Schuster.

Mootilda wakes up in a bad mooood, and the day goes downhill from there. Her bad mood is catching - lambs, pigs, chickens, and more grow grumpy after they encounter Mootilda. Then one small thing changes the entire course of the day.

This book is a fun way to talk with kids about moods in general, but also to show them that bad moods are ok, they happen to the best of us, they can easily affect others around us, but they don't last forever. The book has the signature rhymes and puns of Rosen Schwartz's other books, so kids will love it (and it's super fun to read aloud as an adult)! Also, at a time when I feel like I'm in a bad mood almost every day for one reason or another, this book was a really lighthearted way to help me step back and realize I don't need to stay in that funk!

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim

Thanks to @kidlitexchange and @scholasticinc for sharing an ARC of The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by @onewpc. This book is out November 10, 2020; add it to your list now so you don’t forget to grab a copy!


Anna is used to being in charge of everything; as the oldest sister, she naturally takes care of her younger brother and sister. Her dad works long hours at his restaurant, often spending the night in his office, so Anna also cooks dinner and makes sure her siblings do their homework. She even picks her little brother up from school. Anna does all this because her mother can’t - or won’t - Anna’s not entirely sure which. She just knows her mom stays in bed most of the time, and if she’s not in bed, she’s yelling at Anna for being a horrible daughter. Anna knows there’s some sort of mental illness making her mom unable to perform everyday tasks, but she doesn’t know what it is, or how to get help. She tries to lose herself in working in her father’s restaurant, where she loves to help cook… and watch Rory, the cute new delivery boy. As she gets to know Rory, Anna realizes that everyone has some sort of problem, and maybe she should ask for help with her mother. But that task seems impossible, until something happens that forces the family to take action.


This is a powerful book about mental illness and how it might be addressed and handled. I liked how Anna’s mother’s condition was discussed, but wished there was more about Rory - his illness fell a little flat for me, and I wish it had been explored more. I think it would help teens a lot more to see Anna not only dealing with her mother, but with a friend’s situation as well. Besides that, it was an interesting read, touching on typical YA tropes in a unique way and deftly balancing mental illness.