NOTE: I was given a copy of this book to review but all of my opinions are my own.
Colorful. Rich. Bright. Cute. Beautiful. Magnificent. Resplendent. Fun. Humorous. Clever. Outstanding — and a whole slew of other similar adjectives that I could find in Roget’s Thesaurus if I weren’t so lazy . . .
All of these words describe the wonderful book Maya Was Grumpy.
Courtney Pippin-Mathur wrote and illustrated this delightful book. So talented! Her watercolor pictures are a kaleidoscope of swirling color. The details in the book are charming. Pay close attention to the teeth in this book . . . especially the spiders’ teeth — and to Grandma’s bug-out eyes. (For some reason, Grandma’s eyes tickle my funny bone . . . )
Spoiler alert. You’re gonna find out how this book ends. If that gives you a conniption fit, well . . . I’m sorry.
Maya woke up grumpy.
She didn’t know why she was grumpy. (I love how the author described Maya’s grumpiness as ‘crispy, cranky.’ Isn’t that a fresh description?)
Notice that as she grumps around the house, Maya’s hair gets just as out of control as she is.
When she clumped into the kitchen, Grandma observed, “Feeling a bit grumpy today?”
Whoa! Look at that hair!
Grandma went on to say that because Maya was grumpy she couldn’t hunt for hippos, put her head in a crocodile’s mouth, bathe baby elephants, tickle tarantulas, slide down a giraffe’s neck, or swing with some monkeys.
As Grandma mentioned all of these preposterous activities, Maya’s attitude started to soften until a bubbly giggle escaped her lips and Maya hugged Grandma.
Huzzah! Grandma had coaxed Maya out of her grumpy mood.
She fixed Maya’s hair (that is now miraculously back to normal — and adorably curly), packed a snack, and they headed out to the park where they found that hippo, crocodile, elephant, tarantula, giraffe, and monkey.
Can you find them in this picture?
And Maya felt much better.
This book captured my heart. I’m sure that it will capture any grandma’s heart who had to deal with a grumpy grandchild — and the hearts of grandchildren.
And, you know, in the event that one of your grandchildren is ever grumpy (but I’m SURE that would never happen because your grandchildren are absolutely, positively perfect, right?) you could use this book to help your grandchild get rid of the grumpies.
Two thumbs up, to the author/illustrator!!
You can get a copy of this book on Amazon for $15.
36 thoughts on “Maya Was Grumpy Picture Book”
Just go after them (carefully) with the tickle monster and tell them the rules are No Grumpy’s at Grandmas!!!
I guess I’m too excited about the new baby. I meant “born very early this morning.)
Congratulations on the birth of your brand new grandchild. I hope all is well with mother and baby!
When one of my grandchildren did not want to go to sleep in our house (probably because the surroundings were strange), I let him come back downstairs and watch videos on the computer. This is very appropriate: we have a new grandson, but very early this morning!
I myself am sometimes grumpy and I eat chocolate. What an adorable book, being what i do for a living I read A LOT of kids books and we talk about feelings a lot. Very cute- i would love it
If my young grandchildren are grumpy, I inwardly laugh because I know it won’t last long!
As for this grandma, “mirroring” their grumpy face with an equally sillly-looking grumpy face usually turns their frown upside down.
Grandpa is especially good at bringing out the five-fingered tickle monster for our little ones. Has them giggling in no time.
I find that after taking a nap my grandchildren wake up a little grumpy. I love to cuddle them and read a book or sing to them while doing it. After a few minutes they are rested and awake and ready to GO!
Love the illustrations and message of this book. Thanks for your wonderful ideas and suggestions on this blog. I’m a new follower and I will be sharing you with my friends!
Becky, you are so sweet to share ‘me’ with your friends! I really appreciate it.
I would take them out for a walk…bake some fantastic cookies together and let them decorate them with whatever they wanted..sing silly songs together and just be generally silly together.
I just show my grumpy little guy some videos of himself and he’s laughing in no time! 🙂
Amara would love that book and I would read it to her! We have a thing we do when she tries to get grumpy. We tell her to make a puffer face and then challenge her “not to laugh”. Works every time!
Playing outside on a sunny day always helps!
Spending some snuggle time usually gets her out of the grumpy attitude.
I cuddle my little grumpy girl up in her blanket her grandma made her and rock her while read her books.
All you need to do when the kids are cranky is to love them up a little. That’s the beauty of being a grandmother.
I love this book and I love my grandkids! They are the whipped cream on my chocolate milkshake!
Janet, I love how you call your grandkids the whipped cream on your chocolate milkshake. That’s wonderful!! (Are you a writer, perchance??)
Such a cute book. I would love to share it with my grandkids. They love books. How to make them happy? Just give them lots of loves.
Our granddaughter is named Maya! Would love to give her this book!
This sounds like such a fun book. I love giving books to my grandkids for their birthdays and Christmas.
When my kids or grandkids were grumpy, I would make funny faces or tell them silly stories where I changed my voice with each character. I love so many of the books Flashlight publishes.
Well…I read them books!!!
See you on Thursday
I love this book!
When my granddaughter was grumpy I got out the camera. She had to smile for a picture and then she just kept smiling.
I just stumbled upon your website. It’s wonderful! Grandparenting is such a blessing. My daughter told me recently that she basically stayed out of trouble, growing up, because she didn’t want to disappoint her grandparents. I’m striving to have that kind of relationship with HER children.
Oh, I do hope that my grandchildren will feel that way, too! I hope you can find activities here to do with your grandchildren!
One of my granddaughters lives with us and her family. Some mornings she is Maya and we have to walk gently for a few minutes and then we start talking about why we need to be happy and how we can make each other happy when we get up each morning. We then give each other a big hug and kiss and I sing I Love You Bushel and a Peck. I love your website thank you for being so talented and showing us as grandma’s that we can do fun things.
When my Grandchildren are grumpy, I don’t say anything I just give them a big hug
and kiss the top of their head. It doesn’t always work but eventually they snap
out of it. You have a darling web site. Thanks for your ideas and sharing. I’ve
enjoyed reading it. Connie
My granddaughters live in another state, so I started “The Grandma Book Club”. About once a month I send them a box with a couple of books in it. This book is so cute and would be a great addition to The Grandma Book Club!
I Just LOVE children’s books! They bring out the kid in me. 🙂
This sounds like such a fun, fun book! I’d love to share it with my little guy.
I recently babysat my grandson, he kept frowning about things I told him that he had to smile and not have a grumpy face. We talked about being happy and soon he was smiling.
We all have grumpy days. We should teach our grandchildren to tell us if something’s bothering them. I loved the book.
What a cute book! Short and straight to the point with enchanting pictures! I’d love to be greedy and win this one too!
Funny, my grandsons have never been grumpy ’round grandma – but Brielle? Oh my! Well, she’s a girl – and in our family of girls – so of course she’ll be grumpy once in awhile! When that happens I sweep her up and we have a snuggly-tickle fest….it works!
Thanks for the great giveaway!