Meltdown!

From the creator of the beloved Large family comes a sympathetic—and simply hilarious—look at a toddler’s grocery-store tantrum.

One morning, Mom decides to take Roxy grocery shopping. “Roxy can help Mommy," she says cheerfully. Roxy makes a promising start, but when she squeezes the potato chip bag and rolls a can of beans across the floor, Mom is not pleased. “You’re not being very helpful, Roxy," she says, plunking the child back in the grocery cart. “Not very helpful," Roxy agrees. But being agreeable lasts only as far as the bakery aisle, where the need for a certain piggy-face cake spurs a level of high-decibel determination—and a display of headfirst acrobatics—that has onlookers staring in awe. With the signature humor that made Five Minutes’ Peace a classic, Jill Murphy escalates a toddler meltdown to its comical breaking point, leaving readers laughing and heaving a sigh of relief not to be driving (or riding in) that grocery cart.

Jill Murphy (1949-2021) began drawing and writing stories at a very early age and was already putting books together (albeit with a stapler) by the time she was six. She was only eighteen when she wrote The Worst Witch. Her books about the lovable but disaster-prone Mildred Hubble sold more than five million copies worldwide and became much-loved classics. Jill Murphy also wrote and illustrated several award-winning picture books for younger children.