You're a Crab

The best thing about a bad mood is that it usually changes for the better. Come explore moods of all kinds with an underwater menagerie of sea creatures!

"When you feel MAD like an eel that ZAPS at whatever it sees...or MEAN like a shark that wants to CHOMP on something squishy...or FRUSTRATED like a turtle that snaps at his lunch but misses, then you are a CRAB---a hard-shelled, sand-in-your-claws crabby CRAB! Don't worry. Sometimes I can be a crabby crab, too."

In this clever introduction to moods and feelings, Jenny Whitehead has created an underwater world of friendly sea life, including a little crab whose changing moods show that it's okay to have days when you're feeling a little crabby.

KIRKUS REVIEW

Some days you may feel as friendly as a dolphin or as silly as a jellyfish (doing a wiggle-jiggle dance), but on those days when things aren't going right, you may feel downright crabby. And that's OK! Whitehead delves deep into a tissue-paper-swirled ocean to find all kinds of creatures and the many emotions they may be feeling. In the good-mood passages, like the "frog that goes kissy-kissy-kissy" or the "puffer fish that will hold its breath and make silly faces at you," the actions beg to be carried out (perhaps to a slightly cranky listener). But the bad ones-"when you feel MAD like an eel that ZAPS at whatever it sees"-are acknowledged as well. Readers are given permission to "go ahead and be a stinky anchovy for a while," because moods always pass. Even the angry, red, crabby crab (furrowed brows and all) is smiling in the end.

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW:

Sometimes you just have a day where you're in a mood. A good one or a bad one, a silly one, or a sad one. But it's important to know that everyone has days like this and that even if you're mad today, it doesn't mean you are going to be mad tomorrow. Using pictures done with a colorful and whimsical mixture of paint, tissue paper, and Photoshop, this work takes a look at the entire rainbow of emotions. Sea creatures including dolphins, jellyfish, whales, sharks, and the titular crab take readers on a fun journey through a variety of feelings. The narrator helpfully offers a sympathetic lense by reminding readers and listeners, "Don't worry. Sometimes I can be crabby, too." This simple picture book will reassure young children that even if they feel crabby one day, the very next day they can be happy and silly again.