When Toby finds a mermaid stranded in a rock pool on the beach he takes her home and tries to cheer her up with songs, stories and paddling pool full of bubbles For a while Toby and the mermaid have fun but the more the mermaid sees the love for Toby and his family the more she misses her own family and home. A story about feelings, love, happiness and letting go.
Genre: Picture Book
Number of Pages: 28 Pages
Date of Publication: 06/06/2022
Author/Illustrator/Publisher:
The author of this book is Pippa Goodhart and the illustrator is Augusta Kirkwood. The book has been published by Little Door Books
Review:
My youngest boy loves illustrated books, He is definitely artistic and he truly enjoys looking at them while reading or being read them. Happy Sad is such a gorgeous book that not only is full of beautiful artwork but also a beautiful story that cantered on the topic of being sad and happy at the same time. This can be a confusing feeling and can be especially complicated to explain to children but Pippa Goodhart managed to capture that emotion in a simple story that children can understand and relate with.
Toby and the mermaid become friends after he takes her home and he wants to make sure that the mermaid is happy and he does everything that he can do to make this happen but while she is happy to be with him she misses the ocean. This is so relatable and relevant for children as while they are growing up as friendships are really important and they just want to be happy and make other happy and they sometimes can’t understand why other kids can be happy about one part of a situation but sad about another or even why they themselves are happy and sad at the same time and this story reflects and explains that feeling clearly.
The illustrations are just stunning with beautiful watercolours that reflect the feeling of the story clearly so the children can follow the writing easily.
A truly beautiful book about friendship, emotional awareness and empathy. The language is simple and the text easy to read and broken up into small passages. The cover and pages are very good quality and well produced.
Thank you so much Little Door Books for our gifted book.
Availability: The book is coming out on the 30th of May and you can pre-order it now.
Shelf Life 
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