The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant by Mona K
What's It About?
Kids are going to argue and kids are going to get angry. But in The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant, children learn a valuable lesson: that sometimes, all it takes to get over a dispute is to take a deep breath and a sip of milk.The delightful picture book, written by Mona K., who has a six-year-old of her own, is targeted to children from babies to 11 years old. While it is a simple and straightforward story, it is supplemented with marvelous illustrations by Korey Scott, as well as a mini coloring book and an actual recipe for children to learn, along with their parents, how to make croissants.
With characters such as the Croissant, Toast, Scone and Milk, one might think the book is geared for breakfast time, which is certainly appropriate, but the tale can be shared at any time of the day.
As young readers will discover, even your breakfast – the characters within it, that is – can have bad days. In the story, Croissant, who is good friends with Toast and Scone, becomes “grumpy and frumpy” one morning when his pals hop onto the breakfast plate first, leaving no room for him. Croissant, who finds himself having to balance on the edge of the plate just to participate in the morning activity, quickly becomes angry and takes it out on his two friends.
“Croissant was so angry that his butter started melting” – and he started shrinking!
Children will learn how interesting it is for different participants to have different perspectives of the exact same event. By hopping onto the breakfast plate first, Croissant interprets the behavior of Toast and Scone as being mean. Yet Toast and Scone do not see they have done anything wrong, certainly nothing to offend Croissant. Their take is that Croissant is being mean to them by ignoring them. They also don’t appreciate being yelled at by Croissant.
Milk enters the scene as the voice of reason, insisting that everyone calm down, take a sip of – well, milk – and take 10 deep breaths.
Order apparently is restored. Toast and Scone move over on the plate to make room for Croissant, who seems happy again and fills himself with butter again. Even if Toast and Scone didn’t feel they did anything wrong, taking a momentary timeout and moving over to make room for Croissant on the plate seems like the harmonious and kind way to act. Problem solved.
The Grumpy, Frumpy Croissant is a simple, charming book that allows parents to teach children about how misunderstandings occur, how to resolve them and how to manage your feelings.
And the author’s message appears to be getting through. Says one parent, “Amazing book. My daughter reads it every day and has learned new words, new emotions and values.”
Another noted how the book keeps your kids un-grumpy. “It’s a fun little picture book about how to keep one’s grumpiness in check. Only takes a few minutes to read with your child.”
