You're a Crab!: A Moody Day Book

You're a Crab!: A Moody Day Book

Written and illustrated by Jenny Whitehead

Henry Holt and Company, 2015, Ages 3-6

This story is about different moods that a person can have throughout the day. Each mood is related to a specific sea animal. For example, the sea turtles are frustrated. This book also tells you things you can do when you are in the specific moods. For example, it tells you when you are upset it is fine to go sit by yourself until your mood changes. It almost has every mood that children this age would go through in their life. 

Jenny Whitehead writing style is perfect for children. She uses descriptive writing to explain to the children that having different moods is a normal thing. She also has some Onomatopoeia in her book while talking about what each animal does. Some examples are “Chomp”, and “Zaps”. These will help the children know more about what the animals are doing which will tell the story better. She also has the main story at the side of the page and then adds more text in the pictures. These added words in word bubbles and signs add more to the story. All of the text is also appropriate for this age group. All of the ideas being told are all said in a way that children will understand. 

The illustrations in this book are very good. They help to tell the story and add more to it. They are all animated sea animal characters. The details in their faces help to show their moods, which is extremely important because that is what this book is all about. The backgrounds also help the reader by showing where those animals live. I also like how they add funny things to some of the pictures like a man with a treasure chest in the whale’s mouth to make the pictures more entertaining for the reader. 

I think that this is a perfect book for children. This is because of both the pictures and the text. The theme of the book is every mood is fine to have and this is perfect for children of this reading level. They will be having all different kinds of emotions throughout their lives so this book will be able to help them deal with them. Teaching these important life skills through a book is a great idea. I believe that this is a wonderful picture book because it is both entertaining for the children and it also promotes an understanding for them. I would definitely use this book in my future classroom with my students because it would be relevant for all preschoolers and kindergartners.

Reviewed by Megan