Customer Reviews

A Good Day

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have a 2 month old son, so I cannot say whether HE will like this book as much as I do, but I think it is wonderful. The illustrations are beautiful, the wording is limited simple, and the lesson important: even when things get you down, it will get better. Best of all, and uniquely, the loss of the feather for the little bird not only was forgotten by him, but made the day of a little girl who found it. I am a big fan of books that help kids learn how to make the most of life, and I think this one fits that bill completely.

Great books for adults and kids about how bad days can turn around and become good days. Perfect for days when parents have a shorter fuse than usual and the kids seem to get upset about everything. Appropriate for toddlers to grade-schoolers (and their parents). Henkes' illustrations are as charming as ever and the text is clear and easy to read. Excellent addition to any child's home library.

I don't know why a person should even bother going ahead and reviewing a Kevin Henkes book. I mean, what am I going to tell you here that you don't already know about the man? Uh, that he's brilliant with simple texts? Yeah, I think the world is aware of that already. That he can give a visual approximation of anxiety in such a way that the kids reading the book are able to feel for the characters on a deeply intimate level? Again, no surprises. Still, here before me sits his newest book, "A Good Day", and already I feel a deep and abiding affection for it. The average everyday children's book reviewer doesn't exist in this world simply to bring much deserved attention to new authors and artists (though that is one of the perks). They also bring much deserved attention to those books that may one day be deemed "classic". And while I don't know if "A Good Day" will ever be mentioned in hushed tones alongside "Goodnight Moon" and "Curious George", I can say with absolute certainty that it will be loved and beloved by millions of children for decades and decades on end.

Usually this is the part where I summarize the story. This isn't the easiest task when it comes to picture books, since the summarization sometimes exceeds the length of the story itself. This is definitely the case here. In this particular book, four animals are having a bad time of it. A squirrel has lost a nut, a fox her mother, a bird his feather, and a dog is tangled in her leash. "But then...", the squirrel finds a bigger nut, the fox finds his mother, the dog works herself free, and the bird soars the highest she's ever soared. To top it all off a little girl finds an absolutely perfect feather, and with all the happy animals situated nearby she runs into the house with a triumphant, "Mama! What a good day!" Told with big beautiful pictures, easy words, and a storyline that is simple to follow, the book comes across as an ultimately satisfying read.

I have always believed that it is far more difficult to create a simple book than a complicated one for kids. "Harold and the Purple Crayon" or "Madeline" look easy, but then you have to realize how important tone, wordplay, and memorable characters were to the storytelling process. When Henkes won the Caldecott for "Kitten's First Full Moon", the book was relying heavily on the simplicity of the story. "A Good Day" does the same thing, but it splits the narrative into five different tales. In both cases, Henkes creates anxious characters who extricate themselves from their pseudo-dire situations just in time for a satisfying ending. Heck, the book even comes up with a philosophical question appropriate for the Kindergarten set; mainly, what constitutes, "a good day"? If something bad happens in that day but you shrug it off, does that make the day better or worse? I'm not suggesting that reading this book to your children will lead them on the path of Kierkegaard and Derrida. It's just nice to have a title where, after reading it, you can turn to the little one beside you and ask, "Do you think everyone had a good day?" Nothing wrong with a book that causes a little thinking once in a while.

Doesn't hurt any that I personally feel that the art of Henkes is getting better all the time. While the "Lilly" books and older titles like "Jessica" relied on thin pen lines and small details, when Henkes skews younger he tends to thicken his lines and brighten his colors. Each act in this book is preceded by a multi-colored page of alternating rainbow stripes (which, if you look carefully, match the little girl's shirt) alongside a second page that is all white except for the words, "It was a bad day..." or "But then..." Each animal is then presented with the characteristic big, white, worried eyeballs and furrowed brow. Colors are crisp and clear and when everyone reaches their own personal version of happiness Henkes knows better than anyone how to draw full-blown contentment.

But again, why should I even bother telling you this? If you know Henkes and you read Henkes then it wouldn't matter if I said this book was akin to the lowest form of puss-filled pond scum. You'd brush off my comments and buy the book anyway because over the years you have grown to love and trust Kevin Henkes. Heaven help us all if the man ever comes up with a book that doesn't knock our expectations clean out of the park. As it stands, this is a good book. Go and buy it and it will make a small child somewhere happy. Nuff said.

The Library of Congress summary cracks me up: "A bird, a fox, a dog and a squirrel overcome minor setbacks to have a very good day." It's a good thing Kevin Henkes, who has given us the verbose and precocious Lily, knows when to avoid phrases like "overcome minor setbacks."
With gorgeous chunky pictures and giant easy-to-read-from-a-mile-away text, Henkes has empowered young Readers to independently navigate this surprisingly uncheesy story of "things aren't always as bad as they seem." I mention surprisingly uncheesy because I am typically turned off by sweet and tender, especially if it's text a kid can read independently. There's something to be said for original and uncheesy.
Naturally broken into three parts, we first meet four troubled little animals. "It was a bad day ..." the story begins. "But then ..." like Life, sometimes we just need a different perpsective and a little patience to let us know that our troubles are soon resolved.
I love that the text gradually becomes more lengthy and the vocab. more challenging. It will reward the diligent Reader, like the troubled little animals, with a happy ending and a good day.

I got this book for my 2-1/2 year old daughter, and we all really love it! It's very short but manages to effectively fit in a very sweet (but not preachy) message that there is always a bright side when we are feeling down! The illustrations are very pretty but also simple. The way the pages are arranged is very nice and simple and creates a good rhythm when reading the book. In fact, it could also make a really great 'learn-to-read' book. My daughter loves it, and she loves to help 'read' it with us when my husband and I read it to her.

2005 Caldecott Medal winner Kevin Henkes presents A Good Day, a children's picturebook featuring vivid, almost woodcut-style color illustrations. A little yellow bird, little white dog, little orange fox, and little brown squirrel each seem to be having a bad day at first - but bad days can easily be turned around into good days with a little luck, ingenuity, and persistence! A charming read-aloud story for the very young, especially novice readers ready to take their first step from the reading the simplest of sentences to slightly (but only slightly) more complex ones.

Suffering problems, several small animals are having a bad day. Quiet events resolve their problems, but a little girl running to her mother is what changes the whole tenor of the day.


With a palette of browns, mostly muted, the flowing broad lines of the illustrations have the simplicity of woodcuts. The artist is a master of conveying emotions with small strokes. A short curved line can indicate either a smile or a worried eyebrow on an animal. On opposing pages the depictedcharming characters have their misadventures explained in large, soft brown letters on off-white pages. The easy-to-understand text, simple illustrations, and gentle tension of the book will capture
the interest of, but not threaten, toddlers. Such excellence of art and text for very young children is the work of a master.

I usually don't read reviews first, but I had to see why people would give this book only 2 or 3 stars. It seems some reviewers think the book is too short, that it's a baby book, that it's too simple to hold the interest of older kids.

I disagree.

True, this isn't the same, colourful, kid-centric style of Henkes's that brings us long, elaborate stories like Chrysanthemum or Lily's Purple Plastic Purse or Owen. I love those books, too!

This is a different Henkes. More artful, more contemplative.
And trust me, that's something older kids and even adults can relate to.

The story is a short and deceptively simple look at the "horribilizing" we all do every day. We decide "this is the worst day" and sometimes don't even notice when it all turns around into something wonderful.

The four little animals face their individual problems bravely and then - as animals do - they move on. Each one moves on, through its own efforts, to achieve something far better. And then, the tragedies that confronted them at the beginning are not only forgotten, they turn into a little girl's greatest joy.

This is a simple story that can be understood on many levels. Toddlers will enjoy it as fun animal story. But older kids will listen as well, and perhaps it will make them think.

One reviewer bought the book for a blind child and was disappointed. Actually, I saw it today in the library in board-book form with Braille captions added to the pages. I think that's a mistake, because this book depends heavily on its simple, joyous art to drive home its message. (though, I suppose, a blind adult could share the book with a sighted child)

The words are short and sweet, but they accompany delicious, intricate (almost woodcut in appearance) illustrations and together weave a spell that will bewitch children for many long years.

Four animals each have a simple problem: a lost feather, a dropped nut. Each problem is then solved: a nut found, a new feather grown. Simple text consists of a single sentence per spread. The characters, clearly outlined in the art, stand out against pretty backgrounds. This book can "grow" with the child. Babies won't relate the lost feather on page 3 with the new feather on page 18, but through repeated re-reading they'll "discover" the connections. (Even better would have been putting the problems on left-hand pages and the solutions on right-hand pages, so that a reader could lay the book flat, hold up the middle section, and see both related pictures at once.) At the end, a little girl finds the original, lost feather, bringing closure to a very good day.

When something goes wrong, it's easy to write off the day. The smaller your world, the smaller of an event is required to throw the routine. Henkes urges his preschool and kindergarten audience not to judge the quality of a day based on a single negative event. The story gently reminds that days can turn around in the blink of an eye, using little animals who experience trepidation and exultation over the course of a day. A curved shape, bold lines, variation and contrast are effectively employed in the watercolor illustrations so that the animals appear to leap from more abstract backgrounds. Character expressions which change from despondent to adulation are priceless. As the day turns around, the animals in the illustrations also grow bigger, so that the good day illustration details dominate over the smaller bad details. The large typeface size and corresponding pictures encourage early readers to interpret the text. It's a much lighter choice than Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Very Bad Day to explain that everyone, even animals, to explain that something going wrong early on doesn't necessarily determine the course of the day. The pacing is picture perfect. All of these factors make "A Good Day" a good choice for your child's book shelf or storytime.