I read this book with our two grade school aged children. This book was super engaging and our younger child especially enjoyed seeing the egg grow as Parker's negative thoughts increased throughout his day. It was a great way to depict how negativity can grow and grow and eventually it feels like it is just taking over your day.

Mrs. Butterbott came to help and her advice was simple yet effective. She shared with Parker and his friends that you can't always change what happened but you could "scramble away" your negative thoughts by asking yourself two questions...

"Can I change this?"

"Are there any good parts hidden in the bad?"

While these are simple questions they are very powerful reminders for children (and adults) when they are facing challenges or obstacles that they might not have anticipated or wanted. We may not be able to control what always happens during our day but we do have the choice of how we react.

"Parker had learned that disappointing things happen sometimes. But how he chose to think about them made a huge difference."

A big thank you to NetGalley and Boys Town Press for a copy of this book. ( )

Parker Plum and the Rotten Egg Thoughts follows Parker Plum as he gets a big lesson on positive thinking. He woke with a small, bean-sized egg on his pillow. Rather than question why it's there, he pops it in his pocket and takes it to school. From the start, right at breakfast, things begin to go wrong. And unbeknownst to Parker at first, the angrier he gets over things he has no control over, the bigger the egg gets. And the smellier. Thankfully, Mrs Butterbott has a solution. She teaches Parker to view each situation that created the ginormous egg differently, until finally it was gone. The artwork is just lovely! At the end, there are tips for parents and teachers to help kids deal with 'rotten egg thoughts'. I'd actually say this is a perfect introduction to Stoic philosophy for kids.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Boys Town Press for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. ( )

Overall I like the metaphor. The author has done a great job at developing a concept and playing it out to the end. Sometimes I like the art sometimes I don’t. The cover seems to dark and old fashioned, but the pictures towards the end with the colorfully gross egg, work really well. I like this book, but not enough to buy it for my library or my personal collection. ( )