The Jar of Happiness by Ailsa Burrows Review

Reviewed by Jayne Wiggins

A story about Meg who collects all the ingredients for happiness in a jar to cheer up her friends and family when they are feeling low.

This is a beautiful book with strong cover. The cover is appealing to the children I work with and the tactile nature of the shiny cover made it very inviting to the little ones. The illustration were perfect to cover the size of this book with few enough words to keep the children happily turning the pages, eager to find out who Meg would help next.

The message behind the story was lost on the younger children though the illustrations made it fun enough for the children to stay engaged. The message seemed to hit a chord with a few of the 5 year olds and opened up dialogue to discuss what we would put in our own happiness jar. It led on to an activity in what makes us happy, what instruments we would like to play (the illustrations started that one!) and what we could do in our setting to help other people to feel happy.

Overall, a beautiful book of a good size with simple effective illustrations and a message which is useful for anyone living with or working with young children who are developing their own emotions and coping strategies. For cheer value at £5.99 I would definitely give this a 5/5 score for overall value, presentation and quality.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £5.99 (paperback)

Available to buy from Child’s Play here.