Book Review: You Are My Sunshine by Holly Hobbie
Have you ever had the mopes and don’t know why? If so, you and your kids will sympathize with Toot in Holly Hobbie’s You are my Sunshine. Toot’s a pig who is friends with Puddle (also a pig). As Toot struggles through the mopes over several beautiful summer days, Puddle tries to make him happy. Puddle makes Toot’s favorite five-berry cobbler covered with whipped cream. Puddle takes the adventurous Toot on a wild river rafting trip (that just happens to terrify Puddle, but anything for friendship). Puddle organizes a summer bash. Nothing works. Toot still has the mopes. That is until a wild summer storm blows through and washes Toot’s mopes away.
I can’t think of a better book for showing kids that emotions of all kinds are okay. Sometimes we’re happy and sometimes we’re not. And, sometimes we don’t know why. And, through it all, our friends and family are there beside us to help us.
As always, Holly Hobbie’s illustrations are classics. Summer comes alive as Puddle flies a kite, rides a bike and plays hide-and-seek in the forest. And, the parallel images of Toot moping show the loneliness and yearning that are often behind a good mope.
Ages: 3+