So Happy!

By Kevin Henkes

Book Overview

There once was a boy, a rabbit, a magic seed, and a book...

The boy, who was bored, went looking for something to do.

The rabbit, who was curious, explored until he was lost.

The seed was thirsty, but soon it grew and grew and grew.

And the book? Turn the pages! It will make you so happy.

"A satisfying look at the interplay of nature, time, and love." (Publishers Weekly)

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060564830
• ISBN13: 9780060564834
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.6" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

A warm-hearted picturebook intended for ages 2 and up

Written in a throughly engaging prose poem style by Newbery Honor Book author Kevin Henkes, and strikingly illustrated by Anita Lobel, So Happy! is the picturebook story of a boy, a rabbit, a magic seed, and a book (which the reader is holding in his hands). The seed grows into a beautiful flower, the boy wanders looking for something to do, and the curious rabbit explores until he is lost... but happiness awaits at the end of a long day, when the rabbit comes home to sleep cozily, and the boy finds the flower that the seed became - it's the perfect gift for his mother! A warm-hearted picturebook intended for ages 2 and up.

So simple, so sweet

The prose is so simple, it's stark: The seed is thirsty The rabbit is lost The boy is bored. Three separate stories unspool on the same pages, seemingly unlinked until the end: The boy busies himself and in the process saves the rabbit and finds a magic flower grown from the seed. In a press release, Henkes said he kept the lines spare to allow Lobel room to breath. It was Lobel who decided to set the story in the parched southwest with a Mexican family, invent a father whose departure creates the boy's sour mood, and visually weave the three threads into a unified whole. She uses watercolors in a warm Mexican palette and deep earth tones to conjure up the boy's narrow world: his house, a sudden storm, an engorged creek and the rabbit's frantic scrambling in the brush. For adults, this is a lesson on how an author let go of his work so an artist could transform it in unexpected ways. For kids, it's a fun romp about a rainy day.