Pom Pom Panda Gets the Grumps

PreS-Gr 1—In this British import, a young panda wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and is in a grouchy mood all morning. When his friends at the preschool playground invite him to play, he shouts, "NO!" and tells them to go away. So they do. Pom Pom suddenly has a change of heart and apologizes to everyone. All is forgiven and they begin to play. This slight story has a predictable plot and no character development. The retro artwork has some nice touches of color, but the pictures are static and every page is dominated by Pom Pom's scowling face. The illustrations follow the simple text but do not add to the story. British spelling and terminology ("flannel" instead of "towel," "chase" instead of "tag") may confuse American readers. Jeremy Tankard's Grumpy Bird (Scholastic, 2007) tells a similar story but offers a more convincing cure for the grumps.