Review by Booklist Review
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.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-A cartoon cat walks across the pages, her bad mood apparent from mishaps beginning on the endpapers and reinforced by her expression, posture, and a growing dark cloud over her head. Olive rejects offers to play and insults her friends, one after another, causing black clouds to appear above their heads and showing how contagious foul humor and grumpiness can be. Olive cheers herself with a bag of candy and wonders why her five friends, now sitting together on a bench, are in a funk. They, too, cheer up when Olive shares her treats. The story conveys the hurtfulness of casual off-the-cuff comments and criticism, and, while candy as a cure-all seems somewhat simplistic, it is the act of sharing that cements the friendship. The characters' expressive faces could enhance a classroom unit on emotions or kindness. For a more positive spin on how children's variable moods affect friendships, try David Ezra Stein's Because Amelia Smiled (Candlewick, 2012). Depictions of handling anger around friends are also effectively portrayed in Linda Urban's Mouse Was Mad (Houghton Harcourt, 2009) and Jeremy Tankard's Grumpy Bird (Scholastic, 2007).-Julie R. Ranelli, Queen Anne's County Free Library, Stevensville, MD (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Cat Olive is in a bad mood. A little black cloud follows her as she doles out her grumpiness to anyone in her path. After a bag of jelly worms sweetens her day, Olive is bewildered to discover her friends now sporting their own black clouds. Astute mixed-media illustrations cleverly capture the complexity of moods and how contagious they can be. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Olive the (anthropomorphic) orange cat is back--and she's still oblivious to the impact of her actions (Olive and the Big Secret, 2012). The drama starts immediately as Olive trips on an untied shoelace, skids along under the copyright data and lands in an irritated heap on the title page. She then takes out her temper by making rude remarks to everyone she meets. From bunny best friend Molly, who innocently inquires whether Olive would like to play, to Lola the giraffe, who just wants to say hi, Olive belittles, insults and ignores her friends. Not surprisingly, each of them winds up in a bad mood too. Freeman keeps the text simple and conversational though not always convincingly childlike. Her mixed-media illustrations are crisp, and her animal characters, with round bodies, large heads, and comically small arms and legs, caper across white space that is mostly uncluttered by background details. Olive's pronounced pout expresses her negative feelings, while her friends' transitions from cheery to cranky are shown in serial portraits that also convey motion and activity. After annoying everyone, Olive soothes herself with sweets, shares them freely--and then sinks back into the doldrums when the candy runs out. Unfortunately, the realistically petty temper tantrum and unhealthy coping mechanism overshadow the slight humor and seem likely to leave young listeners and their parents even less enchanted with Olive than her friends are. (Picture book. 4-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
