Happy
Title of Book: Happy
Author: Mies Van Hout
Illustrator: Mies Van Hout
Publisher: Lemniscaat USA
ISBN: 9781935954149
Audience: Ages 2 and up
Summary: Happy is a picture book that illustrates various emotions. The story takes you through various emotions such as happy, sad, curious and nervous. The emotions are expressed by colorful fish.
Literary elements at work in the story: This is a picture book therefore, the illustrations are essential to the telling of the story. The end pages are bright yellow, presenting an uplifting feeling at the beginning and end. The fish illustrations are drawn with chalk on a black background, making the emotion central to the viewer. The illustrations bring out the emotion written on the joining page, which pairs well with highlighting the emotion. Finally, the illustrations are very colorful and inviting for the reader.
Perspective on gender/race/culture/abilities/disabilities/economic: This book is inclusive of all races, gender, cultures, abilities, disabilities, and economic status. People of all walks of life can relate to experiencing the emotions highlighted in this book.
Theological Conversation Parnters: Ecclesiastes 3; Philippians 4:6-20. God is concerned with our emotional wellbeing. As we seek God in prayer with every concern God will “guard our hearts and minds” and provide peace in every situation.
Faith Talk Questions:
- Which fish do you like the most? Why?
- What time or situation does this fish remind you of?
- What happened?
- How did this make you feel?
- Which fish do you dislike the most? Why?
- What time or situation does this fish remind you of?
- What happened?
- How did this make you feel?
- Did you know God is concerned with your feelings?
- How do you tell God how you feel?
This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Phanta Lansden.
Happy by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
