I Am Happy!

by Michael Rosen, Robert Starling (Illustrator)

Overview

Just how happy is this puppy? Michael Rosen’s gleeful picture-book gambol follows a jubilant pooch from here to the stars and back.

This puppy is HAPPY! So happy it wants to shout about it! Riding high on a cloud of joy, it wants to sing on a swing, skip through a puddle, and chase after bubbles. With so much happiness in its little heart, what won’t it do? The inimitable Michael Rosen brings his knack for capturing the extremes of toddler moods to this carnival ride of a book, starring a puppy so thrilled with its own happiness, there’s no end to the celebrations. Paired with Robert Starling’s colorful, energetic art, this companion to I Am Hungry—part of a series mapping toddlers’ big emotions—is sure to put silly grins on the faces of parents and children at read-aloud time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536231281
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	12/12/2023
Series:	I Am
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,086,069
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Michael Rosen is a poet and the author of many books for children, including We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, which won the Nestlé Smarties Children’s Book Prize; A Great Big Cuddle; and Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. He received the Eleanor Farjeon Award for services to children’s literature in 1997 and served as Children’s Laureate in the UK between 2007 and 2009. Michael Rosen lives in London.

Robert Starling is a creator of many books for children, including Fergal Is Fuming!, which was short-listed for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and other books in the Fergal series. He is also the illustrator of I Am Angry and I Am Hungry, both by Michael Rosen. Robert Starling lives in England.

Editorial Reviews

Rosen follows his previous explorations of strong emotions aimed at the very young with a strong depiction of joy that the youngest listeners will understand and identify with. Starling’s mixed-media illustrations of wide-eyed animals exhibiting emotions and using their imaginations are once again an excellent fit with the simple text, written in a bouncy, exuberant verse. . . . A happy hound’s verse, sure to inspire smiles.
—Kirkus Reviews

Rosen has once again teamed up with Starling to continue their picture book ­series (I Am) with this new entry. . . a bright romp.
—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

01/01/2024

PreS—Rosen has once again teamed up with Starling to continue their picture book series (I Am) with this new entry. A gently anthropomorphized brown dog can't contain its happiness and moves through the pages collecting friends, including a familiar hungry squirrel, demonstrating different activities they can do when they are happy. The text is brief, primed for reading aloud to toddler audiences, and the typography frequently mirrors the animals' movements. Starling uses bold, flat areas of color with single-tone, rough shading and minimal line work to create the happy critters. Chalklike textures on solid color backgrounds depict a variety of settings. The narrative ends abruptly, even considering the slight text; adults will want to prepare for that change in cadence when reading aloud. Ultimately, this is a bright romp, but it doesn't stand out from similar titles. VERDICT Best for large collections and libraries looking for toddler story hour reads.—Taylor Worley

School Library Journal

2023-09-23
This is one overjoyed puppy!

“I am happy,” declares the pup. “I’m SO happy I…sing on a swing, swing as I sing, head in the sky, like a butterfly.” The pup chases after bubbles, dances, does somersaults, and walks on clouds! Our furry protagonist grabs the paw of a kitty, whom readers may remember from Rosen and Starling’s I Am Angry (2022). They’re both joined by a squirrel from the creators’ I Am Hungry (2023), and they “walk on air, wind in [their] hair.” These pals do many outlandish things, from rolling down mountains and dancing in fountains to racing cars “all the way to the stars” and putting on elaborate talent shows. That’s how happy this puppy is! The friends are happy enough to play all day. Rosen follows his previous explorations of strong emotions aimed at the very young with a strong depiction of joy that the youngest listeners will understand and identify with. Starling’s mixed-media illustrations of wide-eyed animals exhibiting emotions and using their imaginations are once again an excellent fit with the simple text, written in a bouncy, exuberant verse. As in previous installments, Rosen’s note to adults encourages them to learn and play with youngsters as they read the book with their grown-ups.

A happy hound’s verse, sure to inspire smiles. (Picture book. 2-6)

Kirkus Reviews