The Unbrudgeable Curmudgeon by Matthew Burgess and illustrated by Fiona Woodcock offers readers a lot to talk about just on the front cover. The title immediately offers a vocabulary discussion with Unbridgeable being the easier word to figure out and readers probably have some background knowledge to assist. Curmudgeon feels like a word my sweet grandmother would have used and not one in my every day conversations. Fiona Woodcock has offered readers so many clues through her illustrations. The creature who won't budge is probably feeling a lot of emotions. My classroom always explodes with observations and feeling words when this cover is shared.
Then the end paper offers us a definition for curmudgeon and a pronunciation key. "A bad-tempered, difficult, cranky person; a grouch." Sometimes I stop our reading and write there we make lists when we can be difficult, cranky, or a grouch. There are a lot of happy feeling words and we need to embrace the not so happy.
The little girl in this story has so many strategies for budging the curmudgeon and does resort to a nudge or push or a pull which doesn't turn out that great for her. What it does do though is reverse the emotion roles for these two characters.
My bibliotherapy moment -
"If all else fails, you can try turning on a favorite song...the one that makes you sing along."
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