A Perfectly Messed-Up Story

Such a funny story. The grandkids loved it. I’ve also given this one as a baby shower gift.

Love this story! I read it to my first graders and they learn that it is ok if things don't turn out the way you had it pictured in your head. Things don't have to be perfect and we can make lemonade out of lemmons. When we change our mindset we can brighten our day.

The kids at my preschool absolutely LOVE this book. They request it over and over again! And it has a few lessons you can dive into after read-alongs, depending on the children's ages.

We bought this book for our 3 year old for Easter. There are so many kids books out there it was a super hard choice to make but we ended up with this one and I'm so glad we did! She is obsessed with this book. She thinks it's hilarious and asks us to read it once a day. She knows it by heart now and loves to rub the page with the paper towel pretending to clean up the mess. It's a cute book! Nice and short too which makes for a nice bedtime story for the 1 year old too.

My daughter just turned two. At first, I thought that this book is a bit too "meta" for her: the character in the book starts his story, but then encounters jelly stain, peanut butter stain (that plops on his face), orange juice, dirty fingerprints, etc. In the end, those "stains" become the story itself, and he celebrates that. (So, if you like books with a message, I guess this one would be that the "messes," as they're called in this book, can actually make up the story itself - or, in other words, that mistakes are a part of life, and sometimes even a beautiful part. I suppose it is a good message for parents of toddlers too... ) To go back to the target audience, my daughter seemed uninterested in this book at first; she was in one of her active periods where she couldn't follow a new story. However, one day, she "got" it. She realized what's happening to the main character, and - when I read his "what?!" and "aaargh!"-s with emotion - she found it hilarious. When the story in the middle of the book attempts to start "from the top," a new mess appears (crayon scribbles), she was howling with laughter as only a toddler can: ) And when I hear "Again, again!" at the end of the book, the book is a winner. And this one is!

It was a charming, impish tale. A very pleasant read.

I would read this book to my preschool group and they loved it! I buy it for all if my friends with kids. Awesome illustrations and a funny story for younger kids!

My boys, ages 2 and 4, love this book! They pick it regularly to read before bed, and it always makes them laugh. Their favorite part is always when the first stain of jelly splats down. They go through the "sniff sniff" and "lick lick" motions with Louie, the main character. It has a good message behind it too, although the moral of the story doesn't seem to be of concern to my boys, they just like the messes.

This really simple book is fabulous to read aloud to 3 -5 year olds who are messy and fuss. It teaches you about how to keep the book clean and also how badly the protagonist behaves when his book is not. Good fun. Kids love it if narrated in a melodramatic fashion.

Beautiful book and great quality

As a teacher librarian this is a great book to start off the school year. Reinforces responsibility, and respect towards books. The students also enjoyed the humour and the illustrations. A Perfectly Messed-Up Story can be used for grades K-4/5, and even higher with a proper introduction to the older grades.

My boys (aged 6 & 4) loved this book. In fact my 4 year old wanted it read again straight away. I've never heard him belly laugh like that when he saw the peanut butter on Louie's head. Hilarious! And I like the 'moral' behind it - that it's ok to mess up. Great life lesson and fabulous book.

Unser Sohn, 4, liebt dieses Buch und findet die in die Geschichte eingebauten kleinen und grossen Kleckereien sehr lustig. Er sieht sich die Geschichte auch gerne alleine an. Wirklich originell gemacht bringt es auch den erwachsenen Vorleser zum Schmunzeln.