Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my
friends"
-- Lennon/McCartney
"Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy"
-- Paul Simon
Everything seems pretty darned difficult these days. There is such a
terrible schism out in the world with widespread polarization, the economy in
tatters, and people actually rooting for the failure of the President. I got
some really bad personal news yesterday, and it made me feel old; makes me
think longingly of peers in the publishing and library biz who are younger
and busy taking maternity leaves; makes me wish even more that I was back
on the front side of the 24 years that I've spent in my farmhouse here.
But, instead, the house, like me, is getting old, so I've been busy
repairing it. That's why I was out rather early this morning, driving through
dark and fog, hauling renovation debris to the Central Disposal site, then
heading over to the building supply stores for more materials. And so it was
that I eventually found myself sitting in the truck in front of Target, fifteen minutes before the store opened, opening up a box of books that arrived
the other day, hoping for something in the box to make me happy.
And there it was! A picture book with 51 words and a bunch of lively young
characters of differing hues that offers instructions on how to get happy:
"Squabble less.
Share more!
Sniffle less.
Snuggle more!"
GET HAPPY is a book that is ideal for four-to-eight year-olds, but whose
universal message about the means to achieving happiness could so easily
make this one of those crossover books that goes viral with TV commentators
talking about it and grownups buying it for one another as a present. (This
would make a great addition to the messages being shared by the Occupy Wall
Street crowd.)
"Grumble less.
Giggle more!
Zone out less.
Zoom around more!"
Complementing Malachy Doyle's poetic text, Caroline Uff's dot-eyed
characters repeatedly depict the related emotions so perfectly.
"I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels."
-- Jackson Browne
It's time folks. Think about making the world a happier place. It starts
with me and you. Read this one and then find an audience to read it to.
32 pages
ISBN: 978-0802722713
Reviewed by: Richie Partington, Librarian, California, USA
