I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I get what the story was trying to convey but I didn't think it was all that original. However, the picture were very original.

I loved the patch work illustration style in A Bottle of Happiness by Pippa Goodhart. I think kids would enjoy the playfulness of the illustrations and the general message in the story. Fun for the eyes with an interesting message.

This book was given to me for the purpose of providing an honest review.

***Thanks to the publisher and #NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

This book is a work or art! The illustrations jump off the page and leave me wanting more!

I'll have to pass on this one. I was impressed with the story at all and the art work just left me cold. Not sure who the intended age group is- too busy illustration wise for pre- 1st, txt too confusing. Consumerism is wrong and bad? Wealth is horrible? Communism is a good thing? Barters is better? The poor are better off as they are happy-really??? Nope didn't like it. Sorry.

This story, almost a fable, has a really heavy-handed message. The ending is abrupt and facile. I do like the illustrations, though.

There are two villages on opposite sides of a mountain. One is wealthy, and the other is poor (but rich in happiness). One day, a boy named Pim from the poor side goes over the mountain to check out the rich side. He's amazed by the bounty in the market, but when he wants to have some fruit, he needs something to trade. He tries to bottle happiness, laughter, and love in his own village to trade for the fruit.

This goes about as well as you'd expect, and the rich villagers laugh at his foolishness. For some reason, though, this counts as positive laughter. (This is one aspect of the book I don't like. There's a difference between amused laughter and mocking laughter, as anyone who's been on the receiving end of the latter can tell you.) Then Pim starts to sing and--inexplicably--the rich people all join in and soon it's one big love fest and they're sharing their bounty. This book almost appears to be a statement about capitalism versus communism (or something like that), so the ease with which the rich folks give up their material goods seems a little unrealistic. (Besides which, if you displace the story to our world, the rich most certainly do have access to music and laughter! So I'm not even sure what the overall message of this story is supposed to be. Like it or not, we live in a capitalist society at the moment, and I'm not sure if I like the fact that this book seems to be disparaging the one village where the people are trying to make a living. It's not as if they refused to give Pim the fruit outright; they merely said he needed something to trade for it. So... the barter system is bad, too? I don't know.)

The illustrations are perhaps the strongest part of this book, if only because they're so unique. I've never seen anything like them! They're sort of patchwork watercolour drawings... with almost a Picasso-esque look to them. Lots of fun to look at. Unfortunately, the text and writing don't quite measure up to the visual aspects of the book.

Overall, this is a fairly weak fable that seems confused about what it wants to say. But I would recommend checking it out for the unique illustrations.

I want to thank #netgalley for giving me a copy of #ABottleOfHappiness to review. This is a quick little fable with interesting illustrations. I was a little put off by the illustrations actually. The story was cute and teaches about intangible vs. tangible gifts. I like the symbolism invoked in the story telling and the unique view. This would be a good addition to an upper elementary library.

The basic premise of this book is that happiness is wealth enough, and that you can be happy when you are poor, and the wealthy will take happiness and laughter in payment.

Yeah.

OK, hit me over the head with that concept.

I get it, though. I get that we need to have laughter and music in our lives. I totally agree.

But saying that one town had only laughter and happiness and was poor, and that the wealthy did not have laughter and happiness propagates that myth that the poor are happy as they are, and that poor are miserable because wealth can not buy you happiness.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Screen-Shot-2019-06-02-at-11.41.04-PM.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5222" />

So, doens't quite work for me, but might be good for others. A bit of an odd story.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Wealthy side of the mountain, poor side of the mountain. Wealthy side makes and grows and sells more. Poor side has poor soil, no sea or jewels, but shares homes and stories. Which side is better? What is the worth of something? Can you trade a fruit for happiness and laughter? Good premise, misses the mark for me, while the illustrations are colorful and different, they are also muddy and hard to understand.

A Bottle aid Happiness by author Pippa Goodhart is an awesome children’s book! We absolutely loved this book! The meaning behind this is great, truly appreciate this authors writing!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.