This book is about a little girl named Katie.  She tells about herself, her daily activities, and her behavior which are usually very good.  But once in a while she loses her temper when her brother bothers her.  This is when she becomes “Bombaloo.”  She describes how she feels, how she looks, and the consequences of her behavior.  Then as suddenly as it came on she becomes herself again when she laughs.  Her mother helps her feel better and she plays with her brother again.

This is an excellent book for PreK-1^st gr. to discuss anger management and the normalcy of getting angry. School Library Journal states, “Anger is the subject of this wonderfully illustrated and beautifully designed picture book.” It describes in a child’s language how they feel when angry and after it is over.  It provides a good role model of what a mother or a friend should do to make someone feel better.  From Publishers Weekly, “Vail (Over the Moon; the Friendship Ring series) speaks knowingly to both young children and parents, emphasizing love and patience. Her kid-friendly phrasing and language add immediacy and some humor to the proceedings. Much like Betsy Everitt's Mean Soup, this book's message that it's normal, if scary, to lose control sometimes is clear, and emphasized in a most satisfying way.”

The pictures in this book are colorful and depict life as a child artist would draw it.  Heo uses stripes, plaids, and other pattern designs to give depth to the line drawings. The simplicity of Katie’s face drawings keep the emotion of anger from being too scary to the reader.  From Kirkus Reviews, “Changes in perspective, spot images strewn over the pages, and slashes of energy emanating from fists and face mirror Katie's turbulent emotions while their over-the-top quality diffuses some of the tension aroused by the tale.”  The colors of each page depict the emotions of each page. The text is colorful, written in various sizes and placed at different positions and angles on each page. The best page showing emotion is the page where Katie states, “And I’m sorry and a little frightened.  It’s scary, being Bombaloo.”  The text is wrapped around a green spiral with a picture of her on the spiral.  This depicts her mixed-up emotions extremely well.

 Booklist says, “Kudos to Vail and Heo for making a scary subject manageable.” Kirkus Reviews calls this book, “An honest and understanding appraisal of tantrums from the child's perspective.”  According to Children’s Literature this is, “A reassuring story made even more kid friendly with wonderfully colorful, stylized illustrations.”