Busyness Should Not Get in the Way of Being Present for an Important Birthday in Amusing Picture Book

We are all very busy in our world today. Children hear their parents talk about being very busy all of the time. Oliver Jeffers' amusing picture book I'm Very Busy is a reminder that we should not be too busy to remember someone's birthday. Young readers will get a life lesson in friends not being too busy after all to remember a birthday.

Bridget's birthday is coming and she really wants all of her friends to be there for a party. She asks Royal and he has places to go. She asks Rodney and he has a dog to walk. Regis must wash his hair. Bridget wonders if she will have to spend her birthday alone. Her friends begin to remember that Bridget is having a birthday. Each say that they were going to send her a card and make a cake. Penelope remembers the balloons. Bridget gets a surprise that show that her friends did not forget her birthday after all.

Jeffers provides colorful and simple illustrations to tell Bridget's birthday story.

I'm Very Busy is recommended for ages 4-8. It will be published by Philomel, a division of Penguin/Random House on October 7, 2025.

Teachers who teach in early education classrooms will want to add this adorable picture book to their classroom. I'm Very Busy has a life lesson for young readers and the adults who read along with them. Children will relate to the idea of everyone being very busy in our world and hearing their parents tell them that they are too busy for an event.

*Read I'm Too Busy in a story time session. Call attention to the fact that Bridget's birthday is coming. Engage children in a discussion of a birthday that will be coming soon for someone that they know.

*Call attention to all of the things that Bridget's friends must do instead of spending her birthday with her.

*Engage children in a discussion of a time when they heard their parents say that they were too busy for an upcoming event.

*Engage children in a discussion of how this made Bridget feel when she thought that that she might have to spend her birthday alone.

*Collect art materials for children to make a birthday card for Bridget.

*Select a day of the school week to prepare a birthday party for Bridget. This provides an opportunity for children to role play as friends for Bridget who have a surprise for her.

Oliver Jeffers is a world-renowned author and illustrator of picture books for children. He says that I'm Very Busy began as an amusing story of forgetting a birthday. He began to think after some time that this charming story might have a more powerful lesson for the adults who will choose to read this picture book to children. Being very busy is a way of life in our world and he feels that being busy is sometimes a measure of success for some people. He believes that being present is more important now in our world than showing our busyness. He has two young children and is now trying to implement this concept of being present in his family life.

Jeffers is an artist and author who works in painting, bookmaking, illustrations. and collage. His picture books have received many awards. He has received a New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, Time Best Book of the Year, and two Emmy awards for the Apple TV adaptation of Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth. His work is currently on display at the National Building Museum in Washington, D. C.