Analyzing Children's Books: Layla's Happiness

Layla’s Happiness Written by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie

Illustrated by Ashleigh Corrin

Summary: Young Layla is a bright and glowing girl who is only seven years old. Throughout this short story, Layla takes us readers on a journey to explain what happiness is to her. The extraordinary character finds happiness and love in the things that surround her life such as her town’s farmer’s market, her community garden, and in her friends and family. This story ends with a short sweet question to get all of the readers thinking: what is happiness to you?

My Interpretation: I love everything about this book. The artwork and illustrations are so intentional and simplistic that it surprises me. Layla is a young lady of color, something that students need to see more of in stories so that students may either: see themselves in the story, find commonality with the character in the story who may be different from them otherwise, or open their eyes to someone who is vastly different from them to grow understanding (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2017). Layla is not the only one who is a person of color. On the page when we see the farmer’s market, we see a woman wearing a hijab, women with different hair styles from braided long to cut short, we see a sign that says “Jamaican Jamz”, and people of every skin tone. The diversity seen in this book is so important. The things that are written about happiness are not the obvious things we might expect when thinking about it. They are things that are simple, personable, sometimes silly, and overall just relatable. There are so many different things that Layla described as her happiness that I believe any child could pick up the book and find something that they agree with her on.

Author Authenticity:

Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie is a talented writer and woman of color. When looking at her website pictures, she reminds me of Layla, with her glowing complexion and similar hair style (not to mention the exquisite patterns on her shirt). She is currently getting a Ph.D in Theater Arts from Brown University and won several awards and honors for her work in poetry, children’s book writing, and more. Scrolling through her website you can see her long list of achievements. Ashleigh Corrin is also a woman of color and an award-winning illustrator. She has illustrated several works that are focused on diversity and current issues such as the pandemic.

Illustrations: The pages itself are smooth and papery. They do not have the slick, shiny texture that many books possess. I quite enjoy the way the pages in this book feel and it is comforting to me as I turn each page; it reminds me of happiness. The lines on each page look handwritten by a child, as if Layla herself is writing the book. Layla herself is drawn in a way that is simple with complex features. The characters look simple in the way that I (having little artistic skill) might have confidence to draw a figure similar to their style. They have large, round heads with slim almost stick-like figures with basic lines and patterns. However, the illustrator makes each character complex in their own way. Each character in the story looks different and unique from one another. Each time we see Layla, we can immediately distinguish her from other characters. She has beautifully dark, styled hair that stands out from the side of her head. We also often find her wearing the bright yellow shirt with stripes and patterns on it. Perhaps in some pictures, she is also wearing purple, as she stated it being one of her favorite colors. One of my favorite pages is when Layla is talking about her dad’s childhood in South Carolina. The buildings on the pages are designed so intentionally that the reader would be able to look at the illustrations and know that they are in South Carolina. The illustrator has a beautiful way of making her work seem simple yet so elegant on each page, it confounds me.

Affordances: When we see that the lines in the story are written in the style as if Layla herself were writing them, we must think of this and its allowances for teaching. By having the lines appear hand-written, it gives our students inspiration to write a book similar to this with the prompt that the character Layla created: what is happiness to you? It would be a great writing project for our students to do at the end of this story. This story has the potential for discussion questions and inquiry. On the page that talks about the full moon, there is a simile hiding on the page. It would be a great opportunity to test your student’s knowledge. Afterward, you might ask “what would you wish for?” and turn it into a writing opportunity. Maybe students want to research what buildings look like in South Carolina and compare it to the illustrations in the book or take it further and find different architectural styles of other buildings in other locations. Students might have a question about what a kaleidoscope is and turn that into an opportunity to research that further. Reading the book aloud gives opportunity for discussion and connection making. As Dorfman and Cappelli wrote in their book, “there is no one way to respond to a book, and reactions can trigger all sorts of memories and go in different directions”. To me, this reminds me not to shut a child down if they want to share their memory connection to the book with the rest of the class. It is important for them to make these connections and could provide good modeling for the rest of the class for what these connections look like. This book has so many learning opportunities from its diverse characters to its teachable moments.

Awards & Honors:

• 2020 Ezra Jack Keats Award (illustration)

• 2020 Ezra Jack Keats Honor (writing)

• A Bank Street College of Education Best of Children’s Books of 2020

After reading this story, I had inspiration to create my own list of things I believe happiness is to me. Here are a few that I listed: 1. Snowflakes under microscopes 2. Smiles from passing people 3. A box of souvenirs 4. The quick flash of a meteor across the sky 5. Warm rain hitting my face

Afterward, I made a list of about 100 things that I love and make me happy, I took the ones personal to me and my family and turned it into a poem, inspired by the “Where I’m From” project. Happiness to me is all of these things that remind me of home and where I’m from.

Where I’m From by Katelyn Skinner

I am from apple pies

From candied yams and homemade cookies

I am from the live oak tree in Florida

Whose limbs touched the ground so low

That we climbed up barefoot but could never reach the top

I am from the sewn together dresses

carefully curated by my grandmother’s fragile fingers

I’m from the smell of my mom’s coffee in the morning

from the Uno and Sorry games late at night

I’m from the infectious laugh of my aunt

From the silly jokes of my dad

I’m from my grandfather’s stories he’s repeated each Christmas

From my howling dog at the sound of a doorbell

I’m from “don’t cry over spilled milk” and “knock on wood”,

From Bojangles and Friendly’s

My computer is the keeper of the pictures

From the first I’ve ever taken to the ones from last spring

Capturing each important moment

The laugh lines and giggles

The memories that made me

(inspired from “Where I’m From” poem by George Ella Lyon)

Resources & References:

Dorfman, L. R. & Cappelli, R., (2017). Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children’s Literature, K-6. Stenhouse Publishers, 2nd ed.

Lyon, G. E.,. Where I’m From. Retrieved from http://georgeellalyon.com/where.html

Rosenthal, A. K., (2016). Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal: not exactly a memoir. Penguin Random House LLC.

Tallie, M. E. & Corrin, A., (2019). Layla’s Happiness. Enchanted Lion Books.