Cranky Right Now

The gloriously expressive main character in Cranky Right Now rides the roller coaster of familiar emotions, beginning with cranky, making a long stop at gloomy, and ending up feeling well-balanced and ready for fun. She has light-brown skin with black hair styled in puffs on each side of her head, and her younger brother has darker skin with hair in an Afro. Along the way, she spends time with a patient ginger-coloured pet cat, a father who hides in the pantry while eating forbidden granola bars, and a sibling who seems to delight in finding new ways to pester her while she tries to escape her crabby mood. As she lists the ways that she has been wronged by her family, using the word ‘injustice’ to describe being forced to eat string cheese for a snack, she tries playing her guitar to calm down, retreats to her fort to read alone, and hides under a blanket. Finding new aggravation at every turn, she eventually leans into the unhappy mood by putting on her ‘cranky boots’ and runs around the house until she falls asleep with her brother. When she wakes, she finds that her outlook is entirely different and smiles as she says:

Let in some sunshine. Gobble some fruit. Groove to some music. Give that old horn a toot…Take a deep breath. Take another. Do something kind for a sister… or brother.

Each page is filled with vibrant scenes of a busy household piled with the toys of a childhood (many featuring horns, even the cat reluctantly wears a tiny knit hat with horns) as the children play with trains, books, a pirate’s spyglass, and sports equipment. Their colourful artwork is displayed on the walls of the house with the colour echoed in their bright clothing and the friendly stuffed animals they carry. The children’s faces are charming, especially their demonstrative eyes and their many ways of frowning at each other. They are perfect representations of real-life siblings in combat with one another, including the careful look of one person pointedly ignoring another while trying to read or of someone sneaking behind a piece of furniture hoping to go unnoticed by another after breaking a favourite toy. One close-up expression of chagrin while being caught in the rain is especially lovely, with her holding a green unicorn umbrella featuring a similarly sad air. These vignettes are spectacular, sure to encourage a reader to return to favourite moments in the story often.

Despite the crotchety title, author Julie Berry and illustrator Holly Hatam have created an upbeat book that families will enjoy reading many times over to see themselves reflected in the spirited main character. Their message of finding constructive ways to cope with negative emotions is softened by Cranky Right Now’s cozy portrait of a family that children and adults will find so very compelling.