Book Review: Mooshy Crackerjack"s Big Day

Mooshy Crackerjacks Big day is a picture book about mischievous, or rather accident prone, little kitten. This book is written by Suzanne Patterson, illustrated by Maia Batumashvili and published by Starfish Bay Children’s Books.

Who loves birthdays? Who loves it when it is their birthday.

Mooshy is a kitten who is excited for his birthday. He spends the day going around his house, seeing what his family are doing, hoping to receive some birthday love. But no-one says anything.  Mooshy is sad and thinks everyone has forgotten it’s his birthday; but there’s a surprise he never he saw coming!

This is a delightful story that teaches children about resilience in a fun way. Even though you might be sad about something, which is okay, it is how you conduct yourself that counts.

Blue Bear and I couldn’t agree on which was the best illustration in this book. We both loved the colours and the way the illustrator captured the colours of the kittens so perfectly. Blue Bear’s favourite was the page where dad is sorting out the lights in the garden, because he loved the autumn colours.

I love the page of all Mooshy’s friends who came to the party. Friendship is so important and having so many friends turn up for a surprise is the best. I also loved all the kittens' names – yes, I love cats too.

Mooshy Crackerjack’s Big Day is a beautiful book. Teaching disappointment and resilience to young people can be difficult, but having a book on hand to assist is worthwhile. This book captures the joy of a birthday and sprinkles in a bit of disappointment to show children that it's okay to have sad feelings, even on your birthday, because the sad feelings don't last long.

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Educational Activities:

Writing

-       Write about your favourite party

-       Extend the story to describe what happened at the party

Art/Writing

-       Create your birthday cake and write the recipe so we can all make it

Maths

-       Plan a party for 20 of your friends. Work out how much food you need to have at the party, so no one is hungry

PDHPE

-       Disappointment, Resilience and friendship lessons