Pom Pom Gets the Grumps

POM POM Gets the Grumps

By Sophy Henn 
Published by Puffin

 

Have you ever had one of those mornings where you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Well that’s what happens to Pom Pom, and nothing is right.
 
Pom Pom is a new character from Sophy Henn, her first book, Where Bear? was reviewed by me last year. You may also recognise Sophy’s unique and fun illustrations on the World Book Day website, check out her lovely illustrations here.

  
One morning, Pom Pom gets out of the bed on the wrong side and then nothing seems right. He can’t find his blanky, his baby brother is playing with his favourite toy very loudly, and his mummy is singing silly songs all throughout breakfast. Even his cereal was soggy and there were bits in his juice. “Harrumph!’ said Pom Pom which he constantly says throughout the book to everything going wrong. Pom Pom can’t even get his hair right and even on his way to school, the sun is too sunny and the birds are being too noisy. 

When he gets to school, everyone is having fun in the playground except Pom Pom. His friends come to ask him to play ball, “No” he huffs. How about we watch ants? “No” he grumbles. He even shouts “No” when asked to play catch before finally losing his temper and yelling “Go Away!” at the top of his voice! And unsurpisingly they do go away. Pom Pom is left all alone. He didn’t feel like shouting any more. His friends had only tried to be nice. Pom Pom knows he's been silly and goes to apologise to everyone, luckily he has nice friends who accept his apology and suggest a new game.

I really like Sophy Henn’s bright, contemporary illustrations and like Where Bear? her characters are very cute, you’ll even spot a reference to Where Bear? early on in this book. I recently visited a book shop and spotted this book straight away with its bright and simplistic cover, it definitely stands out on displays from ebrything else that's out.

The recommended age for this book is 3-5 years and this funny take on toddler tantrums will definitely strike a chord with parents. I happened to read this book aloud to my (nearly) 9 month old daughter and when making loud exaggerated “Harrumph!” sounds, she would laugh and give me a big smile.

This isn’t the last we seen of Pom Pom, he will be back in Pom Pom the Champion, due out this September. Pom Pom Gets the Grumps is available in all good bookshops and online from Puffin.