# The Happiness of a Dog with a Ball in Its Mouth - Hardcover

by **Bruce Handy** (Author), **Hyewon Yum** (Illustrator)

**A _New York Times_ Best Children's Book of 2021  
**

**A _Publishers Weekly_ High-Concept Picture Book for Children**

**A CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center) _Choices_ Best Children's Book, 2022**  

Is there any creature in the world happier than a dog with a ball in its mouth? Maybe a cat in the sun? Or a kid eating ice cream? This gentle book, with its soft and evocative colored pencil illustrations, is philosophical in its approach to the millions of forms that happiness can take, as well as the contrasting disappointments and sorrows that we encounter as we navigate our lives.

  

Starting from the happiness of waking up into a brand-new day, the book goes on to explore the kinds of relationships and contrasts that play out between our feelings and experiences. These contrasts play out beautifully across the page from left to right, and across a couple of long gatefold pages. Whether it's the nervousness of a beginning paired with the happiness of a middle; the indignity of a cut against the happiness of a scab; the boredom of nothing to do contrasted with the happiness of nothing to do; or the divide of mine against the happiness of our, these pages challenge the reader to think about daily activities and experiences and the feelings they conjure. They also lead us to think about the substance of our happiness, and what the ingredients of it might be. Written with subtlety and nuance and illustrated in pencil, pen and watercolor with great tenderness, _The Happiness of a Dog with a Ball in its Mouth_ is a gentle, fun, and philosophical read, with which one can start and end the day.  

### Author Biography

**Bruce Handy** is an author, journalist, essayist, critic, humorist, and editor. _The Happiness of a Dog With a Ball in Its Mouth_ is his first book for young readers. He is also the author of _Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult_, published in 2017 by Simon & Schuster. Handy has also worked as a writer-editor at _Vanity Fair, Time, Esquire_, and _Spy_ and has contributed to the _New York Times_ Magazine, the _New York Times_ Book Review, _New York_, and the _New Yorker_, as well as other publications that don't have New York in their titles, including the _Atlantic_ and the _Wall Street Journal_. He currently lives in New York with his wife, the novelist Helen Schulman. They have two mostly grown kids.

**Hyewon Yum** is an author and illustrator of many picture books, including _Lion Needs a Haircut_, and _Saturday is Swimming Day_, which won a Charlotte Zolotow honor. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.  

**Number of Pages:** 56

**Dimensions:** 0.5 x 9.1 x 9.1 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** March 30, 2021

## Details

- **Price:** 18.95 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 18.95 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Happiness of a Dog with a Ball in Its Mouth - Hardcover

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