Review by Booklist Review
This riff on Judith Viorst's celebrated Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day shows a dramatic little girl complaining all the way through a day filled with mishaps, starting with too much milk in her cereal. The humor comes from the girl's overreactions and the way the watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations chronicle her struggles with things like getting on her tights and having hiccups in class. The "ode" structure shows in the way each section starts with the girl addressing each part of the day and its many frustrations, as in "Oh Bad Morning" and "Oh you Clothes," as well as in the rhyming format. The little girl lurches from soggy cereal to uncooperative clothes to a day at school that includes a kid who cuts in line and a pudding cup missing from her lunch. After school, she's bored at the store and faceplants in her slimy spaghetti. At book's end, "annoyed . . . / but not destroyed," she realizes tomorrow may be better. A bit one-note, but engaging.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Rather than glorifying a specific topic, these odes narrated by a schoolchild bewail myriad small annoyances that can accompany a bad day. In early lines by Wallace (A Home Named Walter), even the morning's first moments presage trouble: "Oh Bad Morning,/ eyes are crusty, bones are rusty./ Why do all my teeth feel dusty?" Watercolor and colored pencil spreads from Yum (Luli and the Language of Tea) show the child, portrayed with light skin and black hair, frowning amid snarled-up bedclothes. The room's stuffed animals, together with a visiting cricket, give the child a collective side-eye. Brilliant pinks and oranges offer heightened energy to Yum's consistently engaging spreads, while sensory-focused lines list the indignities of the day: someone cutting in the racially diverse classroom's line, a missing pudding cup at lunch, a spoiled art project, and more. Each individual annoyance may seem small on its own ("Oh Hiccup,/ you interrupt hiccup/ my play with Nick hiccup"), but the cumulative irritations make the day a total write-off--though not without some reflection ("I'm so annoyed.../ but not destroyed") and the promise of a better tomorrow. Ages 5--8. Author's agent: Jennifer Rofé, Andrea Brown Literary. Illustrator's agent: Sean McCarthy, Sean McCarthy Literary. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
With loads of age-appropriate melodrama, a young girl laments all the bad things that happen on a bad day, starting with "Too Much Milk in My Cereal." Late to school ("always rushing, hurry, hustling"), she falls and gets a boo-boo, then someone cuts the line at school ("that spot was mine, Sylvester Pine!"), she gets the hiccups, and she must eat a boring lunch (because, of course, the pudding cup was left at home). After school is no better: a boring trip to the market ("A chore at the store? I fall to the floor!"), slimy spaghetti for dinner, and the discovery of a noisy cricket in her room at bedtime (amusingly ironic, as the cricket has discreetly followed her all day long). Wallace's cleverly written ode is well complemented by Yum's (Grandpa Across the Ocean, rev. 7/21) familiar colored-pencil art in which the girl's big feelings are conveyed through exaggerated facial expressions and the extreme body language of a young drama queen (down on one knee, weeping in the store; an actual face-plant into her plate of spaghetti). While good at complaining, this girl is also unexpectedly good at turning things around (so far, she's seemed as inflexible as her stiff pink tutu). As she's tucked into bed, she philosophically notes that "a better day is on its way" -- one in which "lines are led by me," "pudding's all I eat," and "chores feel like a ride." Not a bad ending to a full-on bad day. (c) Copyright 2023. 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
It's only fitting that a day this bad gets its own lyrical poem. "Oh you Bad Morning." Right from the start, a child who presents as Asian with straight black hair, peachy skin, and dots for eyes can tell it's going to be a bad day. On most double-page spreads, rhyming lines in irregular meter convey the sensibility and grandeur of the traditional ode, glorifying a different aspect of the bad day. The verso describes the outrage ("Oh Too Much Milk in My Cereal, / soggy, squishy! Boggy, mushy! / You turned my crispy into gushy!"), while the recto declaims the lament ("Oh you Too Much Milk"). It is impressive how many despairing, outraged, and sad expressions Yum is able to give the young protagonist as the day progresses through each indignity, including itchy clothes, being late, dealing with a line cutter, and getting the hiccups. One particularly poignant illustration sees the child prone on the floor of a supermarket with one knee raised: "Oh you Boredom." Not every rhyme is perfect, but the overall sentiment comes through loud and clear, and Yum's soft watercolor and colored pencil artwork is a wonderful foil for the negative feelings. This is especially true as the day draws to a close, a new day is within sight, and more hopeful thoughts take over. (This book was reviewed digitally.) This is one bad day readers won't mind reliving again and again. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
