The Bad Mood – Moritz Petz

Illustrations – Amélie Jackowski

When Badger gets up on the wrong side of the bed, he decides to share the love misery. 

What was the point of being in a bad mood if nobody noticed? Everyone ought to know how miserable I feel, he thought. 

Aiming for maximum rudeness and hostility, Badger manages to alienate all of his friends. Once he’s successfully spread his bad mood to everyone he comes across, Badger goes home.

As moods will do, Badger’s changes once he focuses on something other than how bad his mood is. But now all of his friends are in bad moods when he’s ready to play.

Badger learns that it’s not okay to take your bad mood out on others. Ultimately he takes responsibility for his actions and apologises to his friends. 

If I was reading this book to a child I’d be taking the opportunity to talk to them about anger and the different ways it can be managed without hurting others.

I enjoyed the illustrations but the layout could have been improved by making the text larger.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and NorthSouth Books for the opportunity to read this picture book.

Once Upon a Blurb

Sometimes a bad mood can be contagious!

Badger got up one morning feeling very grumpy. “Humph!” Badger said to himself. What was the point of being in a bad mood if nobody noticed? he thought. So Badger headed out, slamming the door behind him. Badger spreads his bad mood far and wide, greeting all his friends with angry, rude remarks that put them in bad moods, too. A comical, cautionary tale for anyone who has ever gotten up on the wrong side of the bed.