Happy

Toddler-PreS—Mother Owl's love for her owlet overflows in this rhyming text about witnessing her child's happiness. The story begins at sunset with Baby Owl awakening his mom with a song. He continues to hop and skip and giggle, all signs, his mother observes, that he is content. When "things are looking gray" for Baby Owl, his mother assures him that she will try to "chase the gloomy clouds away." The story wraps up at sunrise with Mother Owl telling her darling owlet that she is happiest when he is happy. Using a dark color palette, Dodd effectively creates a calm nighttime scene. Gold foil accents add texture and depth to the pictures. Most remarkable, however, is the way Dodd conveys the love between a mother and child in her illustrations. Mother Owl's loving eyes and protective wings wrapped around Baby Owl are just as important as the space Dodd puts between the mother and owlet when he is ready for a moment of independence. In the final spread, a close-up of Baby Owl snuggled in his Mother's wings fills an entire page. That illustration, with the final words, "I am happiest of all…when you are happy too," captures the very essence of being a parent.