Review - Crabby Crab

Crabby Crab (Thingy Things)
by Chris Raschka
Date: 2014
Publisher: Open Road Media Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 13
Format: e-book
Source: library

Theme: Feeling Grumpy. Crabby Crab is not in a good mood. No, Crabby Crab would rather complain than do anything else! Young readers will be drawn in by this humorous look into an all-too-familiar situation, and be comforted in the end. Chris Raschka’s expert balance of visual and textual humor will charm even the grumpiest of readers!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I don't think this is going to have much appeal, except to the youngest of readers. I don't know if I'd necessarily call this a book about "feeling grumpy", either, as the synopsis states. It seems to be more about dissatisfaction. Crabby Crab has claws, but would rather have fingers. He has eight legs, but thinks they're ridiculous. He walks sideways, but would rather walk straight ahead. The author tells him we love him just the way he is, even when he's crabby. Since this appears to be aimed at toddlers, you probably can't go much deeper than that. (To me, though, crabbiness has a bit of a different definition. I think I would've preferred to see Crabby Crab complain about things like his mom making him take a nap or having to eat barnacles for lunch again. When we see Crabby Crab complaining about parts of his body he doesn't like, it could easily be misconstrued. Is this book teaching little ones that it's acceptable to call trans kids crabby when they express their feelings? Or that a kid who breaks his leg is being crabby if he laments not being able to walk? Equating crabbiness with genuine complaints about identity or even just simple dissatisfaction with a situation doesn't seem to be a very healthy message.)

I first encountered Raschka's work in Arlene Sardine, which was pretty much a WTF?! picture book for me. His style of illustration might appeal to some, but I find it a little too abstract.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 1.83 out of 5