'What's Up, Maloo?' with words and pictures by Genevieve Godbout is a picture book for younger readers about a sad kangaroo.

Maloo is a young kangaroo who used to like to hop, but something is bothering him. His friends look for ways to help him. Can they make their friend hop again?

I'm a fan of the illustration style of Genevieve Godbout, and it's on full display here. Unfortunately, the story has good intentions, but seems to miss the mark. The story is meant to be about sadness and how to help someone cope with it, but that is a tough message to get out of this story.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

I will always grab a Genevieve Godbout book off the shelves. Her illustrations are so incredibly beautiful, drawing me in and keeping me around no matter what the story is about.

We all have bad days, days where we are just in a funk or in a foggy cloud. It happens to adults certainly but how many of us think about how it will also affect out children. There can be an expectation that children should always be happy, these are the best times of their lives after all. The reality is that sometimes they just feel blue and need strategies to help cope with those feelings which can be scary for a young person. Enter Genevieve Godbout and Maloo the little kangaroo who hops into a fog and doesn’t have the spunk to get back hopping again. Maloo’ S friends are there to help them, never leaving their side and coming up with many different plans to help clear the fog. Ultimately their kindness helps Maloo break out of the blue feelings and they all go off hopping together.

A lovely introduction to mental health so appropriate for our youngest readers to help them understand some of those complex feelings of growing up and how they can help each other break out of a funk. What’s Up Maloo? is an excellent book to open a dialogue with our youngest readers about feelings and helping them to name their big feelings and help them to show empathy to their friends when they are having the big feelings as well

Maloo has excellent friends who want to help him find his hop.. Maloo’s friends were by his side the whole time and kept trying to encourage him. It was a beautiful story perfect for little ones. The writing did not take away from the illustrations, and I love how the words “hop” were repeated and appeared in similar areas throughout the book. This book was very simple, but it effectively got the moral across with assistance from the simple sentences and illustrations.

Maloo the kangaroo loves to hop, and he's really great at it. Then, without warning, he stops hopping and his friends have to help him get his hop back.

There isn't a lot of text, and the pictures really tell the story. This book can be interpreted several ways, but I think its a story about how to help a friend who suffers from depression (I feel like Maloo could be bipolar). At first Maloo is hopping around with a smile on his face, and then suddenly, without explanation, he stops. His friends ask him what's wrong and even though he doesn't tell them, they support him and help him hop again.

I think this book presents an opportunity for caregivers to talk to children about mental illness, or just feeling down in general, and how to help people that might feel that way.

Poor Maloo has lost the spring in his jump and can only step, step, step. He becomes sad and despondent. Where can his hop be, and more importantly, how can he get it back? After all he is the greatest hopper around and now it's gone. Oh my!

His friends rally around him and try to encourage and support him through his difficult time. Are they able to help him regain his confidence and restore the spring in his step?

The message of the book is simple and positive. It applies to all ages really. Anyone that deals with depression or anxiety can certainly relate. "What's Up Maloo?" emphasizes the importance of friendship and being there for one another in times of need. With a little help from his friends will Maloo bounce back and become his old self once more?

The illustrations are adorable and filled with colour, emotion and action. This is Geneviève Godbout's debut book as both the author and the illustrator. I highly recommend it.

Maloo is a kangaroo who loves to hop. One day, he stops hopping and only walks. His friends are concerned and figure out a way to get him to hop again.

This story shows that sometimes people don’t feel well, and don’t behave the way they usually do. Maloo’s friends came together to help him. This shows kids that it’s okay to feel bad sometimes. Everyone has bad days, even kangaroos.

The images were beautiful. They looked like pastel illustrations. I really liked them.

This is a great children’s story.

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 stars

I love the illustrations and simplistic style. The story was a good one if the kids can’t read yet. What I mean is there is very little to this story and a lot of it is going to be pausing and asking your kids why the kangaroo is so sad, or saying looking his friends help him no matter what. It’s a great lesson for young children. Perfect for that age where they can‘t read fully by themselves but could grasp what’s going on as you talk through the story with them. Perfect for showing kids how to make inferences based of the pictures as well.

What's Up, Maloo? features a cute kangaroo and a number of other friendly critters. The illustrations are nice, but I'm a bit confused by the message. Or, rather, I'm confused about the message for this intended audience. Maloo doesn't just seem a little down. He seems like he has full-blown clinical depression. Suddenly, he can't hop (even though he was able to do it previously--and joyfully--with no problems). His friends have to come up with a way to get a kangaroo to be able to hop again.

While I'm sure some older readers will be able to relate, I'm not sure toddlers are going to be able to empathize with a clinically depressed kangaroo. Maybe this is just what I read into it, but I thought Maloo's sudden inability to hop seemed extreme, and therefore pathological. To make matters worse, he's shown "getting over" this severe depression with just a little bit of help from his friends. I think I would've preferred to see the inability to hop explained better--maybe there's an actual reason he doesn't feel like hopping, so that it doesn't come across as a random chemical imbalance--or else a more inconclusive ending that doesn't imply that you can get over severe depression with one kind gesture from your friends.

The pictures are lovely, though. I especially liked seeing Maloo's friends trying to keep up with him using their pogo sticks.

I think parents with depression are probably going to get more out of this than their kids are. I'd be hesitant to recommend it to everyone, though, because it does have the potential to minimize what can be a very serious mental illness. Parental guidance and some conversation are definitely suggested with this one.

Maloo is an adorable kangaroo who finds herself in a fog. A grey cloud hanging over her head making her feel sad. I loved how her friends were patient and kind and helped Maloo deal with her feelings. A beautiful book about sadness.

This is a gentle and subtle book about life's ups and downs. It's an odd little story, but the beautiful illustrations made the lesson clear.

I received a copy of this arc from NetGalley for an honest review. A cute picture book about a kangaroo that has lost his hop. I really love the illustrations.