Jan 30, 20214 min read

What Makes You Happy?

This week I had the pleasure of reading Layla’s Happiness by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie and illustrated by Ashleigh Corrin. The book is about what makes the seven-year old Layla happy. Layla talks about how her name means “night beauty” at the beginning and explains how she loves the night sky because of the colors, which reminds her of plums, another thing that makes her happy. She begins to explore all the things in her life that make her happy and remind her of times in her life when she was overjoyed.

In an interview Tallie says, “It’s so important for black children to see themselves doing a multitude of things because it opens up possibilities”. Throughout Layla’s Happiness we are exposed to the many things that Layla likes to do. For example, as simple as her love for eating spaghetti without a fork, this book always for children of color to see themselves in this story and relate to experiences Layla has. In the interview Tallie also states how she hopes her new book makes children of color feel seen. She recalls searching for books to read to her newborn daughter and could not find many books that looked like her or reflected their experiences. Due to the lack of diversity in children's books, Tallie wrote her own. When you are reading a book with a character that looks like you and they are engaging in activities, it makes those experiences seem more attainable.

In an interview with the illustrator, Corrin was asked what was the inspiration for the cover art. Corrin states how she wanted to portray a sense of joy and playfulness with Layla front and center. “It is a book that takes place outdoors but in her mind, in her joy too.” The way Corrin has phrased this is beautiful and really stuck out to me. I never thought about how in the story we are exploring Layla’s memories of happiness. Corrin states that a lot of her influences were drawn from her own childhood experiences playing outside and the joy that was brought from them.

Through the use of this book, I curated a list of things that make me happy. I set a timer for about 2 minutes and just wrote the first things that came to my mind. It was a very nice entry for my writer’s journal because it only includes pieces of my life that make me happy. Which got me thinking about how great Layla’s Happiness would be as a mentor text for my future students. I began brainstorming ideas of how I could introduce a writing lesson to students with the use of this book. I gathered old cards from birthdays and holidays. I also looked through old photo albums from family trips and summer vacations. After gathering these materials I began to write about what I gathered. I wrote a little summary about each picture I selected and the memory I have associated with the snapshot. I also took a more innerlook into why I feel the need to keep every card I receive and in the end, it is just because they make me happy and remind me of the people in my life who I love.

To translate this into a form that would work for students. I would ask them to bring in one or two items, could be a picture, favorite toy, ect., and in their writers notebooks write anything they want about the item they brought in. Could be the memory of when they got their favorite toy or a story behind the picture they brought in. This also helps students who need more support in writing because they will have a physical prompt that they have previous knowledge about to write about. After the students have written in their writers notebooks, I would ask them to join me for a read-aloud of Layla’s Happiness. By having the students write about why they like the item they brought in and what it means to them, they will already have exposure to what the story is about. I have not decided what I think would be a best next step to curate more writing.

One idea I had was how this could lead into a “Where I’m From” Poem. The students are recalling past memories, favorite toys, family vacations, ect., by writing about the items they brought in and why it makes them happy. I wrote a “Where I’m From” poem after gathering all my materials of what makes me happy because a lot of what I was looking through and remembering, was bringing me back to growing up and my family.