My Happy Life

A gentle story of Dani and her ‘happy life’, written by the award winning Rose Lagercrantz and smoothly translated from Swedish into a flowing story of the ups and downs of life for a young child. Dani has been longing to start school for ‘her whole life’ and when she does, she meets Ella, who becomes the very best of best friends. Dani’s happiness is challenged when Ella moves away but a satisfying resolution is presented and happiness returns for Dani and the reader. The mild observations of a six-year-old (‘They always ate the same number of sandwiches for lunch. Dani ate triangles and Ella ate rectangles.’) paints a warm picture of the friendship and Dani’s day to day life, which is also given depth as Dani’s emotions are portrayed. Although font size is smaller than some ‘early readers’, the layout, with illustrations on almost every page and only a couple of lines of text, means that younger readers will be able to grow in confidence, and should be able to enjoy reading an attractively produced, ‘grown-up’ looking book. Eva Eriksson’s black and white line drawings develop the story and supplement the text throughout. One small note: Dani’s mother has passed away, which is dealt with briefly and sympathetically but may cause sensitive readers to be momentarily unsettled.