#Booky100Keepers Day 12: "My Big Shouting Day" and "My Busy Being Bella Day" by Rebecca Patterson (Jonathan Cape PB)

There are very few perfect picture books, but "My Big Shouting Day" by Rebecca Patterson is one of them, successfully pulling off a neat balancing trick between being as much fun for the adults reading it to their kids as it is for the kids themselves.

Meet Bella, she's a bit like a cross between Minnie the Minx and The Incredible Hulk. A toddler force to be reckoned with, and today she's going to have a big shouting day.

Rebecca begins her razor sharp observations of toddler behaviour with something that so many parents will identify with - how quickly a simple mealtime can 'go south' if your little darling's food isn't quite to their liking.

Here we see Bella's mum adopting the most brilliantly depicted 'hassled mum face' you'll ever see in a children's book and Rebecca's colossal talent lends itself well to more of those expressions (not just from Bella's mum but from practically everyone who encounters this miniature force to be reckoned with throughout the book).

Bella's hapless little brother Bob (who C loves to little bits, because he reminds her of her little cousin) can only sit by patiently and watch the queen of toddler tantrums go through her day.

Parents, does this spread not seem eerily familiar to you?

Why, WHYYYYYY do kids do this when they're having a strop?

It gets better of course, and by better we mean 'more terrifying than you can possibly imagine'...


C, of course, even now devours this book with abject glee - now older and fully able to understand that she too once held the unstoppable power of an energetic disagreeable toddler, though teens, of course, revert to very similar behaviour once they hit double figures (so we've noticed anyway).

Rebecca followed up Bella's shouty debut with a follow-up book...

...and although we do like "My Busy Being Bella Day" (in particular Bob's brilliant subtle little bit of baby signing which takes my wife and I RIGHT BACK to teaching C that very gesture back in the day) it's nowhere near as effective as the original (sadly we never got to catch up with any of Rebecca's other books though I'm pretty sure they're awesome, she just nails her observations and illustrations so well).

In  the follow-up Bella is off to nursery for the day, and muses on what her little brother might be getting up to in her absence - and though she's wrapped up in her own busy day, she can't help thinking she might have got a raw deal compared to Bob.

The payoff in this one is a little bit schmaltzy but it's once again brilliant purely because even in this 'better behaved' story, Bella is still an individual force to be reckoned with (why SHOULDN'T Pasta pictures of sheep have 6 legs!)

Absolute smashers these two, you most certainly will not be disappointed with the first but pick up both so you get to see even more cuteness from Bob.

Original Review Links:

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week Part 2: C's Choice - "My Big Shouting Day" by Rebecca Patterson (Jonathan Cape Ltd)

My Busy Being Bella Day by Rebecca Patterson (Jonathan Cape PB Ltd)