6 Books You’ll Even Like When You’re Angry

Sometimes I’m Bombaloo, by Rachel Vail and Yumi Helo
I don’t know Rachel Vail or Yumi Helo, but I do get the feeling they might be my next door neighbors or that they have a spycam in my house. “Katie”, as she is called in this book, is a sweet, responsible kid who puts away her toys and is nice to her brother… except when she’s not. And when she’s not—she’s Bombaloo, and Bombaloo is something even Katie doesn’t want to be. Despite the near-mirror image of this book to my child’s behavior, the child in question thinks this book is “super funny.” Someday I’ll teach her what that word really means.

Mean Soup, by Betsy Evritt
When I first met my husband, he described making an “angry burger” on a lousy day when he still needed to eat. I thought the concept was brilliant, although I have yet to taste one, despite possibly inspiring at least that many. In Mean Soup, a particularly bad day (including a surprise chaperon picking him up at school and nearly running over three poodles in the process) sends Horace into a temper-tornado. His brilliant, impossibly patient mother manages to do just the right thing by ignoring his tantrum and turning the emotional maelstrom into a hot pot of boiling soup instead.

Grumpy Goat, by Brett Helquist
When Goat arrives at the happiest farm in the county, he wants no part of the fun the other animals are having. He scares off potential friends, breaks fences, and only seems concerned with eating. The cow, pigs, and sheep all steer clear of this grouchy guy. When Goat finds a flower to care for, the other animals realize he’s not as gruff as he seems, and they find ways to get close to him.

Finn Throws a Fit!, by David Elliott and Timothy Basil Ering
Oh, Finn! Perfectly pleasant peaches somehow inspire Finn to explode in cataclysmic, house-rocking storms that send his poor parents diving for cover. Simple, evocative text is paired with boisterous, explosive illustrations, sending the reader right into the eye of Finn’s emotional storm. The meteorological metaphors employed in this book reminded me of this poem:
Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot,
We’ll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.
Try repeating that to yourself the next time you’re experiencing a child’s less than sunny disposition. If things don’t clear up by the time you finish saying it, keep repeating it until they do.

Grumpy Bird, by Jeremy Tankard
Bird, too grumpy to fly, decides to walk for the day, and he’s not happy about it. Other curious animals, impervious to, or ignoring Bird’s cantankerous mood, follow along on his grouchy walk. Bird fires snappy retorts to the innocent questions of his friends, and his surliness leaps right off the page. You can almost taste his irritability, yet some exercise and some silliness by the other animals manage to turn Bird’s disposition right around. This book is fun to read, especially while snuggling a grumpy bird in your own nest.

Spinky Sulks, by William Steig
Another book my daughter proclaims to be “so funny!” Reading Spinky Sulks is almost like experiencing a tantrum unfold in real time, despite the fact that Spinky sulks over the course of several days. Disappointed with the entire human race (and especially his family), young Spinky stomps out to his yard to kick cans, pout, and ignore the gargantuan efforts of everyone attempting to cheer him up. We never quite learn what inspired his funk in the first place, but it kind of doesn’t matter: the drama is wondering what, if anything, will convince this sensitive soul to come back inside.