FICTION

The Day Everything Went Wrong

by Moritz PETZ
tr. from German by David Henry Wilson. illus. by Amélie Jackowski. 32p. NorthSouth. May 2015. Tr $18.95. ISBN 9780735842090.
COPY ISBN
K-Gr 2—Badger's good attitude is put to the test when little things go wrong all day. He helps his friends with their problems and they manage to have a nice day after all, wrapping up with an impromptu party. The muted cartoon illustrations are cozy with homely details and peaceful scenery, but the text has a wordy, didactic formality not well suited to American audiences. Badger's misadventures are not exciting: things go wrong in very mundane ways with lost objects, minor boo-boos, and so on. There is no growth, no lesson learned; Badger starts (and finishes) with a positive outlook, with just a few wobbles along the way due to circumstances.
VERDICT This is not a story that will capture children's imagination or hold their interest.
Reviewed by Heidi Estrin, Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL
Badger and friends are having "a...badger of a day": Badger breaks his favorite mug; Stag loses his ball; Mouse can't bake a cake. The wide-eyed animals visibly sag with grief until they solve one another's problems and laugh the day off with games like "who could knock over his cup most clumsily." Minor text-art inconsistencies aside, this is a welcoming look at moods.
, Apr 01, 2015

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