A story about choosing happiness and the ripple effect of a positive mindset. Includes seven happiness exercises at the back of the book to encourage kids to fit them in every single day!
Ripple the dolphin just moved to a new aquarium and is excited to make some friends! But as she swims around, she notices the water is still and quiet. The eels have no zing. The neon fishes don't glow. The seahorses aren't horsing around. Everyone's too afraid of a mean shark named Snark!
Ripple is determined to show her new friends that they shouldn't be afraid―it's all about mindset. They can choose to be happy!
But just as the aquarium begins to liven up, Snark the shark shows up ready to prove Ripple wrong. Can Ripple get Snark to smile too?
Bestselling authors and happiness experts Shawn Achor and Amy Blankson invite you to dive in and learn how you can spread joy to those around you with Ripple and her friends.
Perfect for:
- Parents who want to introduce their children to a positive mindset, help them build self-confidence, and set them up for personal and professional success
- Educators and librarians who need a funny, engaging picture book to include in their growth mindset curriculum and collections
Book Links
Goodreads * Amazon * B&N * IndieBound
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**My thoughts**
We all have some sharks in our lives. You know, those people who always seem to be cranky and no one wants to be around them. Little do a lot of us realize that if we try to spread happiness with those sharks anyway, we could quite possibly make them turn around and be less cranky. That's the message of this story in a nutshell.
Ripple is a dolphin who has just moved to a new aquarium. She kind of reminds me of Pollyanna in her desire to meet new friends and to share the happiness. She makes a conscious choice to be happy and attempts to teach this to the other creatures in the aquarium through a fun game of smiling. You'll actually find this game familiar, as it is a regular favorite to play with kids to get them to smile. It even works on Snark the Shark.
I love the idea of this story, spreading joy and happiness, even to those who seem to be cranky. Sometimes those cranky people just need to be acknowledged! I can see kids playing this game like crazy with each other after reading this book. The authors also provide other activities that kids can do to be happy and to develop a happiness mindset. These exercises are more for the older kids who may be reading this story, though I think the picture book itself could be read to even younger children.
I adore the illustrations in this book. You actually cannot help but smile as you look at Ripple and the other sea creatures. This book could probably also be used for identifying the different sea creatures if you are studying that in your classroom.
My only real criticism of the book is that the print seems a bit too small in the advance review copy that I read. It's especially noticeable on those pages that only have about a line of print. I know we want to emphasize the happiness in the story via the pictures, but the print is just as important!
Overall, I gave this book four stars. It would be a fun addition to both the classroom and home libraries.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my advance review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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