Common Sense Media Review
By Regan McMahon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Quirky, whimsical, insightful look at passing moods.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 5+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
A bad mood moves from person to person and a stick gets passed around, too, in THE BAD MOOD AND THE STICK. This quirky look at fleeting emotions shows a whimsical sequence of events, starting with a girl who's in a bad mood (the mood hovers over her head like a cloud) and a stick just lying on the ground. When she picks up the stick and pokes her brother with it, that cheers her up and she tosses the stick into the bushes. Now her irritated mom holds the bad mood in her arms. Then the raccoon who caught the stick scares a man walking by. The man falls in the mud, and now the bad mood hovers over him, and so on, till the happy ending at a wedding where all the book's characters are invited -- even the raccoon.
Is It Any Good?
With whimsy and a knowing sense of human moodiness, Lemony Snicket helps kids see the temporary nature of a bad mood. Illustrator Matthew Forsythe's colorful, retro cartoon-like art pictures it as a hovering, movable cloud -- which helps kids grasp that a bad mood comes and goes. The Bad Mood and the Stick is delightful as a simple, funny story (they'll giggle at the man pictured in his underwear) with a touch of romance (the muddied light-skinned man falls in love with the brown-skinned lady at the dry cleaners who cleans his pants). But on another level, it can spark a discussion of feelings, how chance can affect what happens to us, and how everybody gets in a bad mood once in a while for various reasons.
The stick has a role to play, too, and can trigger a good or bad mood, depending on how it's used.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how a bad mood is shown in The Bad Mood and the Stick. The artist portrays the bad mood as a sort of cloud with a grumpy face. How do you picture your bad mood?
When you're in a bad mood, what gets you out of it? What puts you in a good mood?
Do you think the girl who drops her ice cream at the end is about to be in a bad mood? What clue on the page tells you what might happen?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Matthew Forsythe
- Genre : Picture Book
- Topics : Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Animals ( Wild Animals )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publishers : Little , Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- Publication date : October 3, 2017
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 5 - 6
- Number of pages : 48
- Available on : Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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