Simple, large print sentences, good information, and easily understood illustrations make this paperback book a winner for even young children. We meet a family of mum and dad, Sophie and Katie, not forgetting Oscar and Percy the guinea pigs! Mum is sometimes very happy and sometimes very sad. When she is happy, she is great fun to be with, playing with the girls in the park, buying lots of treats, and sometimes buying too many things which makes daddy 'sad and worried'. Other times, when she is very depressed, she doesn't get out of bed, and if daddy isn't home, the girls make themselves cheese sandwiches for their tea. Sophie and Katie like it best when she is neither too sad nor too happy, but they also worry that perhaps she doesn't love them any more when she is in one of her extreme stages. Daddy is good at explaining mum's illness and why she is as she is and that it is called bipolar. The word itself sounds like a bear to the two girls, for understandable reasons, and so they decide she is sometimes a 'grumpy, growly bear' and sometimes a 'cuddly, soft bear', and they learn that both parents will always love them even though mum may sometimes be 'growly'. The pictures are fun and expressive with background colours to suit the mood of the story, and altogether the book makes an excellent introduction to the subject of bipolar in families and how it affects all those involved.