Pharrell Williams

I love, love, love this book. Anyone who knows me knows that I love the song, so when the book was published I had to get it in my hot little hands, and I am so glad I did. The photographs in this book are amazing. They feature bright, colorful, joyful young people diverse in age, size, and ethnicity. Because I had fun reading this book, I am an official Happy Helper! My duty as a Happy Helper is to pass this book along and spread happiness. YAY!

This book HAPPY! is a celebrity authored children's book inspired by Pharrell Williams song "Happy". In fact, the text is merely the song lyrics broken up and splashed on the pages. While the song might be enjoyable, it does not fair well in book format. The flow and meter is awkward to read out loud and some of the lines are simply not coherent - for example: "With the air, like I don't care baby by the way". This would not fly for a non-celebrity author. Perhaps the only good thing about show more the book are the illustrations, which are actually real photographs rather than drawn pictures. I liked this part of the book and it is a shame the photographer receives little to no credit. I would not recommend the use of this book in the classroom. show less

happy! by Pharrell Williams is a poetic book that started as a song and is very entertaining. Beware...you will be singing this song all day after you "read" this book! Pharrell uses pattern and rhyme throughout the book which guides the reader as they are reading. The repeating pattern of this book is "Because I'm happy. Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof. Because I'm happy! clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth". The illustrations are full of emotions of kids show more being happy and sad. The illustrations are very colorful and up beat! This poetic book would be a great way to get students up and moving around in the dead of the morning! show less

This title is an illustrated version of Pharrell Williams's hit song "Happy" (from the movie Despicable Me 2, as the book repeatedly reminds reader).

The illustrations are photographs of children dressing up, dancing around, etc. set among paper-cut backgrounds. The photographs are full of liveliness and fun, featuring children of various ages, sizes, hair styles, and skin tones. This level of diversity was lovely to see.

However, that doesn't make up for the book merely being the written show more song lyrics. Considering I'm not really a huge fan of the song to begin with, this book wasn't super appealing. For kids who love the song though, they might be far more interested in checking this book out.

A note from Williams at the end encourages children to go out and make others smile, which is a great message to share. show less