Review Detail

A HAPPY PLACE is a lovely die-cut peek-through book that takes children on an adventure into the night. The story invites children to come along into the night where they observe several animals who then slowly leave before the child in the story also goes home and to sleep.

What I loved: This is a simple but lovely picture book that is perfect for bedtime. The story is simple and builds with the animals who come and go. There is no conflict but only gentle joy that works well to lull little ones to sleep. Dark colors and simple illustrations add to the sleepy feeling of the read, and its gentle but lovely nature works perfectly for a bedtime pick.

Each page features some type of peek-through cut-outs that help to build the story by revealing animals or other elements of the scenes and text. This adds a lot of interest to the read as well as some of the beauty in discovery along the way. The text has a very gentle feel when read-aloud that seems well-suited to the bedtime feeling of the book in general. This will work well for toddlers through young elementary school readers.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, some of the pages are cut very small along the middle, which can make them tough to turn and hold as you read the book. Additionally, it is not always clear which text is meant to be repeated or just stays as you go through the book - but this also allows caregivers to help determine how long they want the book to read as well, by deciding how much repetition to do.

Final verdict: A HAPPY PLACE is a lovely and soothing picture book that is perfectly suited for bedtime. Magical illustrations, well-chosen colors, and poetic text make this a delight to share with young readers.