Product Description

From celebrated illustrator Scott Menchin comes a wise and witty meditation on the true secret to happiness.

"I miss your smile today, Sweet Pea. What would make you happy?"

What do you do when it seems as if nothing will make you happy? For one little girl, it’s a good time to take a survey, from subjects including a quick little rabbit (running around in a wheel), a balding gent (counting rings on a tree), a snazzy centipede (shoes, lots of shoes), and other sundry characters. Enlivened by his whimsical characters, Scott Menchin’s amusing story shows us that just doing what we love to do best can bring the biggest smiles of all.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47771 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-12
• Released on: 2007-06-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Feeling blue, and stumped as to what might cheer her up, a girl (called Sweet Pea by her mother) poses the question What makes you happy? to a fanciful array of characters. In his authorial debut, illustrator Menchin (Bounce) cheerily portrays the youngster and respondents in ink and watercolor spreads against pastel backdrops. Sweet Pea's own dog, dressed in a shower cap and carrying a rubber ducky, replies Taking a bath!, while a rabbit likes to run on a hamster wheel (who knew?) and a woman with a nest of squiggly red hair indulges in adorning it with myriad bows and clips. A droll sense of humor is evident as well: an elderly man perches next to a tree stump, stating that he enjoys counting, while a dapper gentleman on a park bench demonstrates his love of stripes with a comically clashing outfit—and a striped tabby on a leash. Sweet Pea (who herself begins to smile about halfway through her informal survey) gradually realizes that many things make her happy and, in a rebus-like spread, she catalogues more than 20 things that do just that, including bake cookies with faces, stick finger puppets on my toes, slurp spaghetti and swim at night. This will likely inspire youngsters who are in a funk to seek joy in the unexpected as well as in the perfectly ordinary. Ages 4-8. (July)
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About the Author
Scott Menchin is the illustrator of the picture book WIGGLE by Doreen Cronin as well as MAN GAVE NAMES TO ALL THE ANIMALS, an award-winning children’s book based on a hit song by Bob Dylan. He has created illustrations for TIME, NEWSWEEK, the NEW YORK TIMES, ROLLING STONE, and other publications, as well as for several major companies. Scott Menchin lives in New York City.