Olive and the Bad Mood

Olive

by Tor Freeman

The perfect antidote to a day gone wrong, Tor Freeman’s follow-to Olive and the Big Secret shows how catchy a bad mood can be — and just how to fix it!

Today is not a good day for Olive. She lost a button on her dungarees, fell flat on her nose, and somebody kicked a ball at her head! Olive is in a really bad mood! As a result, she is mean to her friends and the big bad mood spreads. But when a trip to the candy store cheers Olive up, she can’t understand why all of her friends are so grumpy!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Friendship, Emotion, Animals, Cats, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

Tor Freeman has been writing and illustrating books for children for more than ten years. She lives in West London.

Reviews

[Angelina Justice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the illustrations in this book, but not much else. The messages it sends are all wrong, wrong, wrong. It's okay to abuse your friends if you offer them candy. Candy will make you happy. Being out of candy will put you in a bad mood.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter grabbed this off the shelf at the library. If she grabs it, I will always check it out...even if it's something I probably wouldn't have grabbed.

This story ended up being kind of cute. Olive starts out in a bad mood...and then she's mean and yells at all her friends. Well that sends them in to bad moods too. Olive finally cheers up and wants to hang out with her friends. But now they're all mad at her and in bad moods.

It's a funny book because she doesn't realize that she's the reason they are all in bad moods. I think it has a pretty good lesson for kids that attitudes can rub off on others and that your actions impact other people.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by this story. It's not one I would have picked up myself, but I'm happy we read it. There are more books in this series, so we may pick one or two others up now and see how they compare.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today is not a good day for Olive. She lost a button on her dungarees, fell flat on her nose, and somebody kicked a ball at her head! Olive is in a really bad mood! As a result, she is mean to her friends and the big bad mood spreads. But when a trip to the candy store cheers Olive up, she can't understand why all of her friends are so grumpy!

[Joli · Rating 5 out of 5]

A funny story that my 4 year old enjoyed. I think books like Olive and the Bad Mood help teach kids that sometimes we can be grumpy, and that’s okay. We laughed at the funny expressions Olive and her friends makes (and mirrored them). My kiddo loves asking me the names of the friends of Olive.

[Roone Hennessey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the premise of this book. The idea that bad moods are infectious and that we should be cognizant of the impact of our actions is one I'm happy to revisit over and over again, because it's important. However, I think Olive falls a little short. The biggest reason? Olive never apologizes!

Throughout the story, Olive interacts with a handful of friends, all of whom are in good moods, minding their own business. All of whom fall into thunder-cloudy bad moods when Olive is rude or hurtful towards them.

Then, Olive goes into the candy story, eats jelly worms, and feels better. She finds her friends again, says something along the lines of, "Good thing I was here with my jelly worms to fix your terrible attitudes," and that's it. No apology. No acknowledgment that Olive hurt their feelings!

The illustrations on the back pages - where Olive trips, spills their jelly worms, and is in a bad mood again - create some kind of consequence for Olive's actions. But it just did not land right with me. The overall implication seems to be that you can be rude or mean to your friends as long as you give them candy. Which is not something I would ever recommend to a family looking for picture books about bad moods.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 4 out of 5]

According to the blurb here on Goodreads, "Tor Freeman... shows how catchy a bad mood can be — and just how to fix it!"

Despite that perky sentiment, and exclamation point!, I'll tell ya, Goodreaders. This gal's starting off a skeptic. But let's see....

By the end...

I DEFINITELY GIVE TOR FREEMAN CREDIT

The writing, for young readers, is direct and clever. As for those illustrations? They're precious. For instance, every critter in this book is drawn as an original, clad in a totally creatively unexpected outfit, and just plain fun.

HOW ABOUT THAT "JUST HOW TO FIX IT" PART?

If there was anything about that in this book, I sure didn't see it. Grrrrrrr.

Actually, this Goodreader will survive.

Between you and me, I don't walk around with a cloud above my head, indicating how un-cheery I am. (Although characters in this picture book do show clouds for all to see.) In some sentence that I never saw, did Tor tell readers to erase those silly clouds and, thereby, fix people's moods?

In conclusion I can see how this could be a feel-good book for children and those who read to them. For that reason, sure, I'm game for FOUR STARS.

[Niharika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olive and the Bad Mood is a fantastic read. It talks about how it's okay to have a bad mood but like Olive, we need to walk away from it by eating our favorite dessert and breathing. Olive was in a bad mood due to which he was rude and grumpy with his friends. He overlooked his friends and passed rude comments. However, as he was sulking he came across his favorite place i.e. sweet shop. He bought a bag of wiggly worms. As he eats those wiggly worms, a bad day turns into a bright day. The bush tree looked beautiful. He realized his mistake and cheered up his friends by sharing wiggly worms with them. In the end, Olive found his wiggly worms bag empty. He again felt grumpy.

It's a good reminder that it's okay to be in a bad mood but one must find ways to cheer oneself and mend one's bonds with others like Olive.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this would be a great book for prompting discussions with children about how we feel different emotions, how they can act when they feel these emotions, and how we appear to other people when we behave in certain ways. I also think this is great for getting children to think about how they treat their friends, and how to be a nice friend. I would be wary of the ending - Olive sharing sweets to win her friends back - but I think this could also be used as a discussion point. Can we really be horrible to our friends and win them back with sweets? Overall, I think this is a great book for prompting KS1 PSHE discussions, but I'm not sure I would use it in English lessons, due to limited vocabulary.

[Issy]

This book is great for the end of a school day before the children get picked up or during a PSHE well-being lesson. It tells us about how to get out of a bad mood and what it does to everyone else around us. It was quite a good length which could then be used for a discussion after reading it so the children can share their thoughts. The illustrations and facial expressions were also very detailed so it was easy to follow.

[Charlotte Coles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be good to use to discuss how behaviours and actions can affect other peoples moods. It could link with the saying, ' treat others how you want to be treated. Although, part of the book could raise an alarm when the book is saying that you can 'buy' your friends off with sweets after treating them badly. With the right class I think this would be a good book.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's very rare that a kid's book billed as being funny actually IS funny, but this is such a book.

I love that the girl with such mood swings is portrayed as a cat. Of course, with cats, there's often an oversensitive or overstimulated nervous system which causes mood swings, but ... yeah, the metaphor fits.

And remember kids -- sugar cures EVERYTHING.

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the set up, but was disappointed with how Olive got rid of her bad mood so easily with candy. I would’ve liked her to think about her mood and how it affected her friends.

[Misty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terrible lesson for kids... expensive dentist bill in your future.

[EJLJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a great message for children.

[Lizzy Preece · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the humour of this book and I think children would to! This would be good to use for PSHE in EYFS/KS1 when discussing our feelings and moods and how they impact others.

[Alice Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great story about the effect that one person’s ‘bad mood’ or negative behaviour can have on others. It’s brilliant for teaching young children about friendship and kindness. It would work well in a PSHE lesson about emotions or wellbeing. Children could write thought bubbles for each of the animal’s thoughts or feelings after their different encounters with Olive. This could develop into some drama and role play, perhaps playing out two contrasting scenarios, one where Olive is kind and the other where she is not. Children could then write about and discuss how this affected the other animal/s.

[Emmaline MacBeath · Rating 3 out of 5]

SUMMARY: Olive is in a very bad mood. Nothing makes her happy. As she walks along and sees her friends, she puts her bad mood on them by making them feel bad about themselves. Olive sees a candy store with her favorite candy. She buys the candy and is now in a good mood. Then she sees all her friends sitting together, each in a bad mood. Olive shares her candy with them and everyone is happy...until Olive runs out of candy and her good mood runs out.

ILLUSTRATIONS: The illustrations are created in mixed media. They are large and simple for younger viewers.

THE GOOD: This book starts out well by showing how you can affect others with your bad mood and by the negative things you say to them.
THE NOT AS GOOD: Once again Olive misses the mark. Everything is solved in this book by candy. Her friends don't tell Olive how bad they made her feel, but happily take her candy as if nothing happened. Olive tears her friends down in a big way and this is never addressed. In the end, Olivia is oblivious to how her bad behavior affects others. And on the very last page, Olive is in a bad mood again because her candy is gone. Obviously candy is not the solution.

AGE RECOMMENDATION: Advertised for ages 4-8. I think ages 5-8 is better.

[Eva Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is Olive a cat or a dog? Her face kind of looks like a dog, but then she's got a tail like a cat. So I don't know. Maybe she's some of both.
She's in a real sour mood and being ignorant to EVERYONE, but then she gets some gummi worms, and that changes the day.
That's how I feel some mornings until we go to Black Cap [cafe] or Harvest Market.
Except you know what REALLY makes me get in a bad mood? Is when I THINK we're gonna go, but then we don't.
That could be the sequel.

[Mender · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it is realistic. But if you're using it to teach your kids about how their bad moods affect others, what it's likely to teach them is how to effectively be a cutting bitch and things you can say to make other people feel bad about themselves really well.

And then buy their love again with sweets and ignoring that you caused their misfortune yourself.

Accurate, but not nice.

[Alexandria Hiam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today is not a good day for Olive. She lost a button on her dungarees, fell flat on her nose, and somebody kicked a ball at her head! Olive is in a really bad mood! As a result, she is mean to her friends and the big bad mood spreads. But when a trip to the candy store cheers Olive up, she can't understand why all of her friends are so grumpy!

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fun and simple example of how we affect those around us with our moods and behaviors. The cyclical nature of moods and friendships is portrayed in a manner young children can understand. The illustrations are charming and humorous as well.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olive is in a bad mood and is oblivious to the fact that she is sharing it. This has a truly fun ending.

I support independent book stores. Please use this link to find a store near you or to purchase this book:
http://www.indiebound.org/book/978076...

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids love this book. I thought it was ok, not great,at making a point of understanding how your mood can affect other people. I had to explain the story so my son would understand but once he did, he enjoys it.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olive's bad mood is contagious to all of her friends.

[Slytano · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book will render you fat.

[Summer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Illustrations are great, but the message is bad.

[Emily Metroka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute easy story about how easy it is to pass on your bad mood to others.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny; I chuckled all the way through this story. Cute cartooney animal characters.

[Danica Midlil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how well this shows how taking a bad mood out on someone else spreads the general malaise.

[Ruth Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olive and her friends quickly capture the reader's attention. When Olive is grumpy with her friends because she is in a bad mood, the reader see that her bad mood comes back to haunt her.