THE GRUMBLES

A plague of grouchy creatures infests a small town in this debut rhyming picture book.

It’s a normal day in a quiet town when the Grumbles arrive: “They made the town folk gloomy and glum, / With the grumbly effect they had on everyone.” But the townspeople don’t want to be grumpy, so they come up with ideas on how to get rid of the creatures. First, they yell at the Grumbles. Unfortunately, the shouts only make the creatures dig in deeper. Eventually, a child suggests making the Grumbles laugh. The residents agree to give it a try, and one man with a long mustache starts telling a knock-knock joke. After the Grumbles back away, the people laugh harder, and when one kid dances, the creatures flee. Page’s rhymes start as a three-line pattern and move to a four-line one, keeping a consistent scansion. With a few intriguing vocabulary words (tolerate, recoil, foiled) to keep children on their toes, the poetry should appeal to young independent readers and lap readers. Templer’s charming, old-fashioned illustrations feature a populace with different skin tones and body types, all troubled by the blobby Grumbles. The creatures have frowning mouths, sharp teeth, and ratlike noses. While the author’s message that grumpiness can be driven away through laughter and music is a familiar moral, the simple delivery and the folk-tale quality of the enjoyable story should strike a positive note with young readers.

An engaging tale of laughter versus grumpiness, illustrated in a nostalgic style.