The Story of Grump and Pout - Hardcover

Jamie Mcewan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517567067 ISBN 13: 9780517567067

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1988

Synopsis

When a human comes to the forest and sells custom-made shoes to the monsters, bringing them previously unknown comfort, Grump no longer grumps and Pout no longer pouts.

About this title

Reviews

Grade 1-4 Grump berates all of the monsters in the forest, including her gloomy husband, Pout. When the village cobbler comes in search of new customers, he improves the monsters' lives with custom-made shoes. After he replaces Grump's worn, uncomfortable shoes with snazzy new ones, her grumpiness vanishes, and her marriage flourishes. The monsters hold a dance to celebrate. Boynton's pastel monsters and humorous pictures can't rescue the inane plot. The full-color illustrations vary in size, ranging from two-page spreads to comic strip format with four or six panels per page. However, the visual interest can't overcome writing that often seems aimed at adults rather than children. When the cobbler tries to convince the monsters to try his product, for example, he sounds like a bad television commercial. ``Shoes can also keep your feet from getting tired, and can even relieve the backache that comes from improperly supported feet.'' Boynton lovers, podiatrists, or cobblers might get a kick out of this, but everyone else will probably find it as flat as fallen arches. Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, Minn.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Grouches and monsters, surely among the most appealing of characters to most children, give this book a fine start. And in the case of this husband-and-wife collaboration, the result is a deliciously silly story whose hairy, ornery protagonists are beguiling indeed. All the other monsters avoid the irascible Grump and her only slightly less cantankerous husband Pout. But when Pout acquires a pair of the most wonderfully comfortable shoes, he finds his mood improving; and even Grump cannot sustain her ill temper in the face of her new shoes and Pout's generosity in buying them for her. McEwan's text and Boynton's cartoony illustrations are packed with droll expressions and witty details: images of the newly transformed Grump dancing with happiness are sure to strike the funnybone, as are the comments and observations of the other, rather timid, monsters throughout. All ages.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0517567067
• ISBN 13: 9780517567067
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Sandra Boynton
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40