The strength of this board book is in its clever use of cut-outs. A wide curved space is carved out of the entire book, front to back, and in the beginning it forms a frown. Gertie wakes up in a monumental grump, and because she is grumpy, she makes everything else grumpy too - first the sun, then the flowers, then the fish in the pond. When everything around her is unhappy, she is unhappy too, and it is only when a friendly little monkey, hanging upside down from a branch, explains how easy it is to make others happy, Gertie learns how our moods can affect others. The book is then turned over, and as Gertie goes back to the fish in the pond, the flowers and the sun with a smile on her face her world comes right again. Quite small children will respond to this story and will thoroughly enjoy turning the story upside down and seeing how frowns can become smiles.