Happy Himself

Release Date: (June 2019)

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Happy Himself Kindle Edition
Happy Himself Paperback Edition

Happy Himself chronicles the life of a young boy named Happy and his tight group of neighborhood friends.  They're navigating the challenges of starting middle school in the early 1990s.  An accomplished athlete, Happy expects to continue being a rising star as he enters a new stage of his life.  However, a group of jealous kids frame Happy for a school prank, forcing him into behavioral classes for troubled students. 

Happy deals with the struggle of trying to be someone different, to fit in with everyone else.  His journey takes him through some unexpected adventures and allows him to meet some amazing new people.  The nostalgia of the early 90s will be enjoyable to most adults.  Even though the book is written to a younger audience, it is fun for adults as well.

(Author's note): I began telling my children "Happy" stories at night before bed several years ago.  Each night I would make up a different tale of Happy, his brother Moe, the girl next door Rosa, and Jonathan and Nathan, twin brothers down the street.  All of the character names were based on real toy action figures I had as a kid.  I used to turn my entire room into a neighborhood and have my figurines interact with each other, often playing some type of sport.  Anyways, my children have come to love the stories.  They are often silly, but I always try to include some type of life lesson or teaching point in them.  About a year ago, I decided it was time to start combining the stories into one book.  The goal is for it to be a story aimed at reaching younger children, but funny and clever enough for it to be an entertaining read for parents.  It will be a nice piece of nostalgia for kids of the 1990s.  It already includes many 90s childhood references.  I also took many of my real, awkward middle school stories and put them into Happy's adventures.

Themes: Becoming a child of God, self-image, and patience.