If You're Happy and You Know It! [Paperback]

Jan Ormerod (Author), Lindsey Gardiner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2003 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Animals take turns putting their own spin on this classic song. A fun book that stresses individuality.

A Childrens Book of the Month Club Selection

Teaching Tools Available

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ormerod (the Miss Mouse books) and Gardiner (the Poppy and Max books) riff on a favorite children's song in what looks to be a surefire circle time favorite. An unnamed girl who brings to mind a blonde version of Gardiner's Poppy character spearheads the merriment. "One day a little girl felt happy. So she sang," begins the text. When the familiar song lyrics follow ("If you're happy and you know it, clap you hands"), eight members of the animal kingdom-fancifully rendered in buoyantly improbable colors and patterns-respond with his or her own version. "No, no, no," a patchwork puppy rejoins. "If you're happy and you know it, wave your tail-swirl, twirl!" Admitting to an unimpressive tail, a striped blue elephant suggests, "Flap your ears!" "Ridiculous!" claims a crocodile, "If you're happy and you know it, snap your teeth-snip, clip!" as he shows off a mouthful of triangular newspaper collage incisors. Gardiner varies the spreads, showcasing each animal to maximum effect: a hyena, in several spot illustrations, rolls with giggles, while a close-up of a gorilla plays up his chest-thumping girth ("boom! boom!"). The wrap-up line feels limp after the energetic lead-in; the preceding pages bubble with infectious glee. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-K-Delightful, colorful animal figures cavort through the pages of this book that puts a twist on the familiar song. It begins with a little girl singing, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." But, one by one, a different animal chimes in with his own version of the song. The brown, spotted dog wants to wag his tail. The blue-striped elephant wants to flop his ears around. The colorful toucan wants to clack his beak. On it goes, as the creatures chime in with their special ways of showing how happy they can be. The animals are utterly lovable and ultimately convince the little girl that it's OK to do her own thing and they'll do theirs. The action on each spread gives the story a great deal of energy and the backgrounds are washes of color, from dark pink to yellow to blue. From page to page and animal to animal, each verse is only partially included, so some practice is necessary in order to use it as a read-aloud/sing along. Its ultimate message and unrelenting good cheer will soon have everybody joining in on the fun.
Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Star Bright Books (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932065105
• ISBN-13: 978-1932065107
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.6 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,378,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There are all kinds of ways to show it...., October 9, 2008

By 

Judy K. Polhemus "Book Collector" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: If You're Happy and You Know It! (Hardcover)

"If You're Happy and You Know It" is a favorite family song that all the Pretend children--Chelsea, Colby, and Carolina--learned in turn. Cadie just turned one and will be the next. However, we will have new verses for Cadie from this book.

The little girl on the cover wants to show her happiness so she claps her hands in the appropriate place in the song. Uh oh. The small brown dog says you show your happiness by waving your tail, whisking your tail, and wagging your tail!

Not if you have an insignificant tail, says the elephant, then you flap your ears. Oh no, says the alligator, you snap your teeth. It is curious that the alligator has words on some of his teeth, almost as if he ate something with wor....ds.

The toucan, the gorilla, the kangeroo, the parrot, oh, definitely the hyena--all make happy sounds with various body parts. But as the little girl reminds them, they all "do your thing" to show happiness. Everyone agrees and they show happiness.

Sound simple? But you haven't seen the illustrations. Wild! Bold! Fun! Colorful! A feast for the eyes! Children will love looking at this book! And if they make happy sounds with a different body part, that is just fine. Everyone is an individual here!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! What fun!, March 7, 2003

By 

Katie Steele "cfs4" (Astoria, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If You're Happy and You Know It! (Hardcover)

This book is the most fun I've had with my kids in a while. It's a great story to get everybody together and upbeat, one the kids can even "play" in the car together. Be careful though, not a bedtime story!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nice spin off on the If your happy & you know it song, November 9, 2006

By 

KSL "emma-and-me" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If You're Happy and You Know It! (Hardcover)

If you loved the " If your Happy and You Know It" song this is a really cute book that also helps children to hear rhyming words as well.

It starts out with a little girl who is happy and to show it claps her hands. Well, along come other animals and their idea of how they show they are happy. The dog swirls, twirls, whisks and wags it's tail, the elephant who has a very thin tail decides it's his/her ears that shows by flapping & flopping. Then there is the crocodiles that snip, snap, & clip their teeth, followed by 2 toucans clicking, clacking, snip & snap their beaks. The gorilla beats his chest, the kangaroo jumps, bumps, pings, pong and bongs around, the blue macaw screeches, shrieks, shrills, screams, sceeches and yells and the hyena giggles, chortles, cackles, chuckle and titers. And in the end the little girl says If I am Happy and I know It - I can do my own thing, that's right all the animals say together. It's a cute book that is bright illustrated. I am not sure where the other reviewer says this is not a night time book because there is really nothing scary unless it's the crocodiles... but they are not drawn mean looking.... in my eyes. A very cute book that has my daugther acting out the actions with her stuffed animals.