Meaningful Bedtime Stories: Could Be Worse

Many of today's busy adults have fond memories of their Mother's reading them this book when they were children. Copyrighted in 1977 and first published by Mulberry Books in 1987, Could Be Worse is a new classic for the current and upcoming generations of young children. Could Be Worse is written and illustrated by James Stevenson, who also wrote such treasured children's books such as No Laughing, No Smiling, No Giggling, The Most Amazing Dinosaur, and the Mud Flat Mystery series.

James Stevenson has dedicated most of his writing and illustrative career to making children laugh, smile, use their imagination, and discover humor in every situation. Could Be Worse is no exception. Endorsed by Reading Rainbow, this simple children's book delivers laughs and giggles along with a few underlying lessons for parents to teach their children.

Could Be Worse starts out with two grandchildren telling the story of their Grandpa's daily routine, which is the same everyday. Grandpa always said the same thing too. Whenever something awful happened, like a couch being eaten by the dog, Grandpa said, "Could Be Worse." The two grandchildren, Mary Anne and Louie, don't quite understand why he never says anything "interesting." They suppose its because nothing interesting ever happens to their Grandpa.

However, one morning during breakfast, Grandpa changes his routine and says, "Guess what?," to the grandchildren. He continues by telling them a fascinating story of his great adventure during the middle of the night. It starts by Grandpa being pulled out of bed by a "large bird" and being dropped in the snowy mountains. The adventure continues with an abominable snowman, huge snow balls, giant monsters, mean ostriches kicking him into storm clouds, being swallowed by a fish, and pinched by a giant lobster. The adventure concludes when Grandpa "hitched a ride" from a sea turtle to the ocean surface. He later finds a newspaper on the beach which he folds into an airplane and flies across the sea, back home, and into his bed.

After the story is told to Mary Anne and Louie, Grandpa says, "Now, what do you think of that?" Mary Anne and Louie look at each other smiling. They say back to their Grandpa so cleverly, "Could be worse!"

The lessons taught in Could Be Worse are subtle, but meaningful. First, no matter how difficult you may find the situation your in, it could always be worse. It is important to deal with current difficulties the best you can while trying to keep a positive outlook. Second, appreciate what you have. The term, "Could be worse," applies to all that we have and are given. Its important to appreciate what we have and have compassion for those who have so much less.

The author, James Stevenson, also tells a great story that will help young children to create their own adventures using their imagination. The sequence of unlikely events that lead from one to another illustrate a great imagination and how to develop a story. Once you've read this book to your children, have them come up with their own unlikely sequence of events. They'll be sharpening their literary skills while having a fun, memorable time with their parents.


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