I’m Very Busy: A (Nearly Forgotten) Birthday Book

Written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

Oliver Jeffers has won many awards for his work including the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize Gold Award, the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award and the Irish Children’s Book of the Year. He writes about anything and everything and here he is looking at friendship, birthdays, and being busy.

The first page introduces Bridget who thinks it’s a lovely day to spend with friends. But all her friends are really busy, giving what adult readers will  immediately recognise as specious excuses,  such as ‘ I have to see a man about a dog’, having to wash hair (even though bald!), and having to dig a hole. It’s only after Bridget’s got the brush off from five friends that the reader discovers that it is Bridget’s birthday. Apparently all her friends forgot that it was her birthday and belatedly start making plans to celebrate. It all ends happily for Bridget who does spend her birthday with friends ‘who would NEVER forget a birthday, no matter how busy they were.’

The book is large and well designed. The illustrations are quirky and colourful in Jeffer’s trademark style. Each person is clearly differentiated in appearance, small figures surrounded by lots of white space.  Each one is a different colour, e.g. green, orange, pink, purple, and blue, creating a neutral cultural palette.  The text is brief, cleverly placed on each page in a thick black font.

I found this an odd story although attractively presented. The theme of being too busy to do what is actually important in life is relevant even for young children but I didn’t like any of the ‘friends’ since they weren’t really friendly except at the last minute. Their reasons were amusing but showed no empathy with Bridget. I would advise her to make some new friends.

HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks 2025

Oliver Jeffers