Happy All Over

By Emma Quay

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

Emma Quay, the award-winning and much-loved creator of Rudie Nudie, (2012 Book of the Year for Younger Children Australian Book Industry Awards; Shortlisted for Children’s Book Council Australia Awards), and Rudie Nudie Christmas, here presents an irresistible celebration of the small joys to be found in living life every day.

‘Happy on the inside, inside-out. Happy all over – splash it all about.”

Emma has been amazingly diligent in finding and presenting some of the many small, large, hidden, and obvious things that happen each day that give us joy.

‘ A star. The Floor. Shapes at the door. Finding there are five when you thought there were four.’

Children of all shapes, colours and sizes, enjoy themselves: they dance, bounce, jump, spring, cuddle, huddle, lick, gurgle and more. The rhyming text is rich in sound words : ‘A smile. A pile…A dash. A splash. A mix. A mash.’ And it goes on and on, there is so much to celebrate!

The book is an absolute word mine for children expanding their word hoard. Each page encourages a conversation, each illustration  an invitation to have a little chat: Why is that  boy curled up with to his sleeping  dog smiling so much? What do you think that girl licking the spoon is eating? What is that girl looking at the moon thinking?

The illustrations show Emma’s signature wit and verve. Each child is a compressed bundle of concentration and energy, totally focussed on the moment.

This book deserves to be in every home and school library and possibly read every evening.

What things did you enjoy today?

ABC Books AU 2024

Emma Quay