The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley

Human beings live for quite a long time and for a lot of that time we are not happy. We want to be taller, shorter, fatter, thinner, older and younger. We want our straight hair to be curly, our curly hair to be straight and our brown eyes to be blue. We hate our parents, children, teachers, students and everybody. We want to be somewhere else with someone else, eating something else and wearing something fantastic no one else can afford, and we want to splash them as we drive by in our big red car.
Rats live for quite a short time and for most of that time they are very, very happy...

Contrasts the short life of a rat named Riley, who is content (if not ecstatic) with simple things like family and a cozy straw bed, with humans who live much longer but are never satisfied with anything in their lives. The illustrations are a scratchy and messy but colorful mix of photographs, pen and ink and photoshop. I think the message is good, might be better for the older end of he picture book age spectrum, as some of the images are rather harsh (a famous painting of an angel is altered so that it is smoking a cigarette). Younger readers might be disturbed that Riley's life is so "short".

This is a picture book about a little rat that is always happy about his life. The illustrations are very colorful and eye-catching.I think the moral of the story is Don't compare yourself to other people and be yourself. I would recommend this book to year 4 and higher.

This book has beautiful illustrations and is an excellent story. The moral of the story is don't pretend to be someone you are not. I would recommend this book for year 3 and up.

I really liked this book because it can teach a lot of people that have depression that just be happy with what you've got and that you never have to compare yourself to other people. I recommend this book for ages 9-13.

A rat that lives an incredibly short life while keeping it very simple yet he still is happy. This book as a lot of inspiring messages to a lot of people who think there life is not good. Be happy with who you are, and the simpler your life is, the happier you will be. I have also come across a lot of people in my life that pretend to be someone that they're not, but there is no one i'd rather be then me. I recommend this book to people who think there life is not as good as they think it is.

This book is about a rat that enjoys life the way it is. I recommend it for year four and above because it has a great moral for people who will understand it. The moral of the story is '"Live life to its full and you will enjoy it".