The sour grape by Jory John and Pete Oswald

The grape in question is sour with the whole world. He remembers when someone upsets him, never forgets when someone wrongs him and an insult is never ignored. He holds grudges when people ignore him or when he is bumped by someone walking by. But he was not always like this. He was part of the grape community, hanging around in a bunch, happy and contented. But one day that all changed. His birthday was coming up so he went to great lengths to make it a wonderful event. He sent out invitations, hired a ferris wheel, a magician and hayride, and had lots of food ordered. But on the day nobody showed up. He waited all day long and no one appeared. He became a sour grape, at odds with the world, always holding grudges.

One day he arranged to meet his friend Lenny and after several unforeseen circumstances, a late bus, and lost dog, he was late, Lenny was very displeased and held a grudge. This gave the sour grape pause to reflect and he came to the conclusion that he would have acted in the same way, despite offering reasons for his lateness. Going home he pulled out some photos of happier times and also looked again at the invitation for his party. It was then he realised that he had told people the wrong date. He realised that being grumpy and holding grudges was tiring. It took a lot of energy so he decided to turn things around.

It wasn’t easy being kind and forgiving all the time and at times he had small meltdowns where he became upset, but in the main he tried to listen to others, forgive and be kind.

The sour grape is wonderfully illsutrated, giving the grape a personality which is reflected in small changes to his eyes and eyebrows. Each of the other fruits are similarly distinct, each having their own characteristics cleverly drawn.

A Californian based illustrator, Oswald has invested the characters with a wonderful background of parks and gardens, full of detail and interest, with touches of visual humour. This is one of a series of books by John and Oswald, the others being: The good egg, The bad seed,The big cheese, The couch potato and The cool bean.

Themes: Anger, Mental health, Friendship, Disappointment, Humour.

Fran Knight