Grumpy Gnome by Peter Wilholm

We're going to stay in the fantasy direction with today's read with a book for slightly younger readers. I was taken with this one the moment I saw the cover. At first, the gnome caught my attention with its lantern and riding on a pig...a bit unexpected. The snow scene also had me winter-dreaming, but then, I noticed the ducks and thought, "Huh?" So, I'm looking forward to seeing what this one holds.

GRUMPY GNOME

by Peter Wilholm

Illustrated by Alejandro Segura Baron

Picture Book

42 pages

ages 3 to 9

The old gnome was angry with the ducks next door. They had dragged him out of his hundred-year retirement to help a father and daughter in trouble. Why would the gnome care about silly humans, especially ones who had made a big mess at the beloved farm where he used to work? Surely there was nothing about these well-meaning but clumsy people that could soften his prickly mood?

Grumpy Gnome is a humorous, exciting and cozy story about rediscovering joy thought to be long gone, parental love, and the ways of the old world clashing with the new.

GOODREADS     /     AMAZON

MY TIDBITS

A little fantasy and a lot of heart make this a magical read with plenty of food for thought.

Grumpy is an old gnome and just wants to be left in peace, but the ducks aren't about to leave him alone when the humans need his help, especially since these humans are about to lose the same farm, which Grumpy spent much of his life taking care of. Of course, Grumpy doesn't need to help, but the ducks are sure he'd be upset if anything horrible happened to the farm. Since the ducks won't leave him alone, he begrudgingly agrees to see what he can do, but the disasters caused by the father and his daughter on the farm seem to be continual. Worse yet, the two humans don't even hold any ill-intentions. They're just naive. 

This is a lovely, illustrated book, which holds a bit of fantasy in a more traditional style while snuggling up to a modern day family. The gnome isn't unkind; he simply wants to be left alone. Despite his prickliness, he's never mean but reluctant, and this makes him hesitantly likeable. The gentle fantasy steers clear of magic, leaving the gnome to solve issues with experience, knowledge, and a bit of cleverness. He always stays in the background, keeping a thin separation between the two worlds. Still, his actions are impossible not to notice, and this allows a sense of possibility and what-ifs. And this is enough to create a 'magical' world.

Behind the imaginative aspects of this tale, there's also some wholesome messaging as the gnome has to go beyond his comfort zone to help people, who he doesn't know nor wants anything to do with. It's never preachy but slides into a heart-warming ending, which opens the door to dreams. And this might leave some readers on the lookout for gnomes, too.

This works nicely as a read-aloud or for those readers, who a sure of their words.