STARRED REVIEW
"But night or day, A Happy Place transports its audience through the joyous magic of the natural world."
A bright little star peeks through a sleepless child's bedroom window and whispers, "Follow me... and I will help you find a happy place." So begins a nocturnal romp through nature in author/illustrator Britta Teckentrup's dazzling children's picture book. A Happy Place, with its accessible language, stunning illustrations, and playfully cut-out pages, is a delightful reading adventure for young audiences.
The glow of the star shines a guiding light in "the deep blue night" as child and star travel past a river full of herons, up rolling hills speckled with insects, and into the inviting moonlit woods. Here the nighttime explorers find a trove of friends to sing and dance with, including "a tippy-toed squirrel," "a bushy-tailed fox," and "a long-eared hare." The child celebrates this deliciously happy place with the animals until it is time to go back home to bed.
Teckentrup (Under the Same Sky) pairs her endearing prose with enchanting illustrations that light up the story's dark setting. Shadowing and fine detail add depth, texture, and intrigue making that which seems ordinary in daylight extraordinary within Teckentrup's nighttime pages. The die-cuts add extra charm to the tale, especially at the middle of the book, where they unveil the forest friends one by one, then hide them as each departs.
The star promises to watch over the child as they sleep at the book's conclusion, making it a perfect bedtime read. But night or day, A Happy Place transports its audience through the joyous magic of the natural world. --Shelf Awareness
A youngster follows a star on an illuminated nighttime journey.
Restless, a teddy bear cast aside, a brown-skinned child reaches out to a bright star shining through a die-cut bedroom window. “Follow me, whispers the star, / and I will help you find a happy place.” With the star firmly in hand, the young tot leaves home and walks past the river, over the hills, and into the enchanted woods. A dusky haze of pinks and blues surrounds a (mostly) circular cutout of the moon, encouraging everyone to dance by its light. Animal inhabitants, found in peek-through die-cut snippets (“a tippy-toed squirrel,” “a long-eared hare,” “and a pair of starry-eyed stoats”) all sing and dance together until they get sleepy. The star then whispers that it’s time to go home. But has the youngster really ever left the safety of the snuggled-up covers? Only the star knows for sure. Deep, shadowy hues, highlighted by pops of other muted colors, are comforting rather than frightening. Nighttime is one of Teckentrup’s specialties, and this gently soothing tale is no exception; it’s sure to have little ones on their way to the sweetest of dreams in no time.
Dreamlike, quiet, delightful. (Picture book. 3-6) —Kirkus Reviews
The wonders of nighttime await a brown-skinned child in a cozy hat who responds to a star’s invitation: “Follow me.../ and I will help you find a happy place.” As the child follows the star’s repeated “Let’s go” outdoors, fields of flowers wave, a river glimmers, and a forest beckons under a brilliant full moon. Die-cut openings soon reveal a growing group of animal companions—a “tippy-toed/ squirrel,” a fox, a hare, two stoats—who gather to “dance/ and sing/ in the light/ of the moon/ together.” Next, they depart, leaving child and star alone once more: “just/ you and me,/ embracing the/ world.” Viewed through greenery, as if in secret, the child is seen reaching, arms wide, the star at the tip of one hand, before returning home. Spreads with a cut-out window view the child safe in bed with the star guardian outside: “I will watch over you, sleeping peacefully.” For this dreamy fantasy, Teckentrup (My Little Book of Big Questions) fuses imagination, natural beauty, and a sense of escape to create a heady mix that presents evening as a place of security and wonder. Ages 3–7. (Feb.) --Publishers Weekly
