Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang

Hey, Story Seekers!

The sun is shining.

The sky is blue.

The bananas are sweet.

What a beautiful day!

Jim Panzee is miserable.

And everybody would like him to knock it off.

We're exploring Grumpy Monkey, written by Suzanne Lang and illustrated by Max Lang, a book about a chimpanzee in a rotten mood and the parade of helpful animals who keep trying to fix him.

Jim does not want fixing.

He would like everyone to quit mentioning his face.

Readit has pointed out that if somebody tells you to smile while you're grumpy, there's an excellent chance you'll become grumpier.

The worm has a point.

Book Breakdown

Look at that cover for a second before we go any further.

That's the entire book.

Jim Panzee wakes up and everything is wrong.

Not actually wrong. That's the problem.

It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. The bananas are sweet.

Jim still feels lousy.

His neighbor Norman takes one look and decides Jim is grumpy.

Jim disagrees. Strongly.

But Jim's body is making a pretty good case against him. He's hunched. His eyebrows are grumpy. His mouth is grumpy.

So Jim tries fixing those.

Shoulders up.

Eyebrows up.

Smile.

There.

Fixed?

No. Now he's grumpy while pretending not to look grumpy, which is worse, and Max Lang draws it beautifully.

Then Jim heads through the jungle, where everybody has an idea.

Dance. Sing. Roll around. Take a bath. Eat. Jump.

Every animal recommends whatever makes that particular animal happy.

Nobody is being mean. They're trying to help.

They're also driving Jim bananas.

Eventually he can't absorb one more cheerful suggestion and blows up.

And that's when Jim finally admits the thing everybody has been telling him all day.

He's grumpy.

Later he finds Norman, who's having a rough moment of his own. The two of them sit together.

Jim is still grumpy.

But maybe he won't always be.

That's the whole ending, and it's enough.

Suzanne Lang doesn't hand Jim a magic mood repair kit.

Good. Sometimes there isn't one.

Max Lang's pictures carry more of this than the words do, because Jim spends half the book denying something his entire body is announcing. The hunched shoulders. The eyebrows. The mouth. The stiff walk.

Jim can say he's not grumpy as often as he likes.

Max has already told us.

For teachers and librarians: Lexile AD460L · Fountas & Pinnell L · ATOS 2.2 · 476 words · ages 3 to 7, grades PreK to 2. Random House Studio, May 15, 2018. Thirty-two pages, a New York Times bestseller, and the first of what is now a whole series.

Jungle Jimmy's Journal

Here's what I like most.

The other animals aren't villains.

They're doing what people do.

"You're sad? Try this."

"You're grumpy? Do that."

"Come on. Smile!"

Meanwhile Jim is thinking: could everybody please stop managing my face?

Parents are going to recognize this. Kids even more.

Sometimes a child is upset and we start firing solutions at them like we're working a customer service desk.

Hungry?

Tired?

Want a snack?

Need a hug?

Go outside?

Want your toy?

What's wrong?

What's wrong?

WHAT'S WRONG?

At some point we've manufactured a second problem. Now they're upset and we're annoying.

The clever part is that every animal prescribes the thing that works for them. The birds sing. The hyena laughs. The snake lies around.

Wonderful. Jim isn't them.

That's a useful thing for a kid to see without anybody turning the book into a feelings seminar.

And then there's Norman, who doesn't save Jim with the perfect piece of advice.

He sits with him.

That's much better, and it's the thing I'd point out to a kid afterward if I pointed out anything at all.

For a read-aloud, Max Lang has handed you half the performance. Before you read what the animals notice about Jim, give the kids a minute to inspect him.

Does he look grumpy?

What gives him away?

Eyebrows? Mouth? Shoulders?

Then watch Jim attempt the least convincing cheerful face in children's literature.

You don't have to explain why that's funny.

The face has already filed a complaint.

One reader who knows illustration better than most set the bar and then admitted the book cleared it. Sara the Librarian, whose husband is a professional illustrator: "you have to be bloody good at what you do to get me to enjoy your children's picture book."

Max Lang got her pointing at pictures.

Readit's Review

Everybody needs to leave Jim alone for a minute.

Seriously.

He says he's not grumpy.

Okay, he definitely is.

But STOP TELLING HIM.

And stop telling him to smile.

That does not work.

If I am mad and somebody says, "Smile!"

No.

Now I have a new reason to be mad.

I like Norman because he's a gorilla and he's huge, but he doesn't have to do something huge to help Jim.

He just hangs out with him.

Also, Jim's grumpy face is really funny.

Especially when he tries to look happy.

He looks worse.

WAY worse.

And his name is Jim Panzee.

Chimpanzee.

Jim Panzee.

I see what you did there.

What Others Think

Readers have clearly found their grumpy little guy. Goodreads shows 4.41 out of 5 from 7,988 ratings and more than 1,100 written reviews.

But the best evidence I found isn't a rating. It's a transcript.

A reviewer named Philip reads books with his three kids and writes down what they say. Here's how his review of this one opens:

Poppy: Dad! I'm mad at you!
Dad: Poppy, are you pretending to be grumpy so that you can pretend to be not grumpy?
Poppy: Yes.
Dad: I thought so.

That's a kid who finished the book and immediately started playing it.

I've been doing shows for children for thirty years and I'm telling you, that's the whole ballgame. Not "she enjoyed it." She took the character out of the book and put him on.

The grown-up reviews land where you'd expect. Tina Haigler names the thing the book is actually for: it helps kids "understand a negative feeling without making them feel guilty about having said negative feeling."

Laura noticed what I did about the art: "Jim's grumpiness showed itself in his tight stance, bunched eyebrows, and frown."

And donna backshall gets at why adults keep buying it: "Every one of us has been where Jim is. And then we've felt crappy about bringing everyone else down."

Two honest notes before you buy.

Some readers think Norman is part of Jim's problem, not the solution. Dan's version: Norman "won't let him enjoy it in peace" and then "drags Jim all over the jungle." That's a legitimate read of the middle of this book, and if your kid is the sort who gets hounded when they're quiet, they may side with Jim harder than the author intended.

And the book never explains why Jim is grumpy. Some readers find that frustrating, including kids who want a reason.

I think that's the point, and it's the bravest thing in here. Sometimes there isn't a dragon. Nobody stole your cookie. Your friend didn't insult you. The sky didn't fall.

You're just off.

Kids know those days. So do the rest of us.

Belly Laugh Scale

3 out of 5: Solid Chuckles

Jim's face is doing the heavy lifting.

The increasingly irritated expressions, the catastrophic attempt to look cheerful, the parade of animals prescribing their own favorite hobbies, and the eventual blow-up all give a read-aloud plenty to work with.

But this isn't joke-joke-joke.

The funny is wrapped around something quieter. Jim feels lousy. Everybody keeps poking at it. Eventually he needs room.

Three out of five.

And please stop asking the chimpanzee to smile.

Final Explorer Verdict

I'd recommend Grumpy Monkey for ages 3 to 7.

It's especially useful for kids who get frustrated when adults try to solve every feeling the moment it appears.

And, honestly, for the adults doing the solving.

There's a difference between helping somebody and hurrying them into the mood we'd prefer they were in.

Jim's friends mean well. They care about him. They are also exhausting.

Then Norman gives him something different.

Company, with no repair job attached.

I like that. I like that Jim's feelings don't need a dramatic reason. I like that the pictures let a kid spot his mood before he's willing to name it.

And I really like that the last page doesn't flip him from GRUMPY to HOORAY.

Maybe he'll feel better soon.

For now, he gets to be grumpy.

That's enough.

Readit has now requested that everybody stop talking to him.

Apparently he's grumpy.

I have learned something from this book, so I'm leaving him alone.

Keep exploring, Story Seekers!

Jungle Jimmy & Readit