Mooshy Crackerjack’s Big Day by Suzanne Patterson, illustrated by Maia Batumashvili

Title: Mooshy Crackerjack’s Big Day

Author: Suzanne Patterson, illustrated by Maia Batumashvili

Genre: Humour

Publisher: Starfish Bay Books

Published: 5^th September 2025

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 40

Price: $26.99

Synopsis: Mooshy Crackerjack’s birthday goes hilariously wrong as he tries and fails to stay out of trouble.

Mooshy Crackerjack is determined to stay out of trouble and have the best birthday ever, but everyone seems to have forgotten! Although his family are busy preparing something special, it isn’t for him, and with each step Mooshy takes, mayhem follows.

From an icing disaster to a soggy balloon mishap, nothing goes right. Has anyone actually remembered his birthday? Or will there be a surprise in store? Join Mooshy in this delightfully illustrated and hilarious adventure about family, friendships, and the joy of surprises.

~*~

All kids love birthdays, right? In fact, everyone does! And birthdays are always perfect…right? Well, not for poor Mooshy. He’s woken up on his birthday, and managed to get himself all ready. Except, it feels like his entire family and all of his friends have forgotten about him. They’ve got a HUGE list of chores for him to do, which he seems to be getting wrong, and is upset that they’re all having fun without him. Whatever could be going on?

Poor Mooshy, he can’t seem to do anything right. He just keeps making a mess, spilling things, and getting in the way. He’s disappointed that his best birthday ever is going wrong in so many ways. And whatever his family are planning looks special, but Mooshy is sure it isn’t for him.

There’s icing disasters, balloon mishaps and leaves going every which way. Is it all a ruse though? Surely there must be something fun at the end of the day that Mooshy can’t stuff up…or will he?

Birthdays are always fun, and Mooshy’s looking forward to a fabulous birthday, as many people do when their special day comes around. The joy in this story though, is in Mooshy’s journey to get to his celebration. He’s learning to be patient, to help, and to wait for the good things in life. And, that he can’t know everything. But Mooshy is way too curious and all the clues that something is going on are there. He just can’t really put them together! It’s like a mystery trail that he has to follow to try and find out what is going on.

Suzanne’s story focuses on the excitement of birthdays, the joy of surprises, and how people respond to them, or try to uncover them because they’re not patient enough (like Mooshy)! This is a fun story to teach children that sometimes; we have to wait for the best things or the things we are looking forward to the most. We shouldn’t rush joy and fun, we need to relish in it and soak it in, allowing ourselves to revel in the things we love. To find joy in the small things.

This is what makes this book so fun. It’s sense of innocence and childlike joy about birthdays makes this book relatable to so many people of all ages, especially young children and parents. It could be a great book to read with kids when they are excited about their birthday but don’t want to wait. What a fun way to explain waiting for things to children – and using something that children will be able to understand. I loved this book, and hope other people do as well.