My Heart is Laughing by Rose Lagercrantz and Eva Eriksson
| My Heart is Laughing by Rose Lagercrantz and Eva Eriksson | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A warm-hearted look at optimism and finding inner happiness among bickering primary school children. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 120 | Date: May 2014 |
| Publisher: Gecko Press | |
| ISBN: 9781877579516 | |
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Meet Dani. On the whole she's happy, and when she's not she tries to be. She would be happier if her best friend hadn't moved to another town, leaving her empty seat on their joint desk at primary school, but you can’t have everything. But Dani also has smaller-scale, shorter-lasting times of unhappiness, such as the story in these pages, when a boy decides to ignore two girls and ask Dani out instead. Their jealousy causes unhappiness – can Dani, or her dad, or just plain chance, turn the tables and make her happy again?
The brevity of the book and the simplistic way it can be reduced to summary should be enough to mark this out as a fable, a book with a message – and indeed it is, but a winsome message delivered very nicely. The writing brings us flashback (perhaps to an earlier volume in this series) to prove why the core friendship meant so much, but also the immediacy of very plain, matter-of-fact writing to convey the emotions of what happens in this tale. With the fact being that Dani didn't ask for the boy's attention, our sympathies are with her all the way against the bullying avenging devils.
The fable side of the book doesn't struggle to convey the storyline, where mistakes both big and small can be forgiven, wrongs can be righted and happiness can be regained, especially if one decides it can. It's galling to think that children of the age this is targeted at need books to guide them out of despair, to stop them being depressed, and to think positively, but there you have it – we do all need to grab the bull by the horns sometimes, to stop moping and see our way to a smile. You might think the fact this book was originally Swedish tells us a lot about the Nordic sensibility, but I wouldn't pass judgement.
It is a two-hander, and here the author tells us on the fly-leaf about how she imagines a story ripe for illustration then sits back once it's done to be surprised. The audience will be charmed too, for the simple line illustrations are quite delightful in themselves – with the highlights being upset hamsters, and the exceedingly expressive facial looks many characters, especially Dani, have. The pictures can cause hiccups now and again – leaving a large portion of blank space in order to be full-sized overleaf, when we think it's the end of a chapter and it isn't – but they add to the spirit and heart of what is quite a genuinely warm little read. It might be only a temporary cause of happiness, as opposed to a permanent one, but it should be well suited for the 7-10s it seeks to convey its message to.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
Jim's Lion by Russell Hoban and Alexis Deacon is absolutely mind-blowing, and covers similar grounds of optimism in a very pictorial and young audience friendly way.
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You can read more book reviews or buy My Heart is Laughing by Rose Lagercrantz and Eva Eriksson at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy My Heart is Laughing by Rose Lagercrantz and Eva Eriksson at Amazon.com.
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