Review: The Happy Shop

By Brittany Long Olsen

Portland, OR: Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group, LLC, 2024. Comic. 139 pages.

In this short comic, 11-year-old Darcy has just moved to a new town and is missing her old home and friends. One day, she stumbles upon The Happy Shop which is full of glowing jars labeled with happy moments like "Having the perfect weather on your wedding day." She realizes that all the jars are filled with other people's happy memories and when you open the jar, you are able to feel what they felt in their joyous moments. When she accidentally breaks a jar, the shop owners agree to let Darcy help around the store to repay the cost. With the store losing money, the owners, Frida and Flora, are worried that they may have to close down the store. Then, Darcy stumbles upon a way to help them bottle not only happiness, but other emotions. If you loved the complexities and emotions of Inside Out, this book is a natural read alike. It's a beautiful story that will make you feel the spectrum of emotions The Happy Shop is creating in its patrons.

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