J is for Joy; and Joy is defined as a feeling of pleasure or happiness, or a thing that causes joy. And my first joys are definitely my family! Conversations with loved ones at home and elsewhere, books, dancing – all of these bring me joy as well. So what brings you joy?

Rainbows, and flowers, and well, nature never fail as well. And that fact brings truth to this famous quote:

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”
― John Keats, Endymion: A Poetic Romance

And while sadness is diminished as we talk to others, joy multiplies when we share(divide!) it. Mark Twain says it best with this quote:

“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.”
― Mark Twain

So let us spread the joys and cheer around! While you might be missing the people you cannot see now due to social distancing, remember that

“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.”
― Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby

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The Book

Joy

Book Info

My Thoughts

What a joy to read this book! Corrinne Averiss’ story telling is sweet and simply smile-worthy!

Fern notices her normally cheerful Nanna is no longer so and when her mom tells her that Nanna has lost her joy, Fern makes it her personal mission to find Nanna’s lost joy. As she looks for and tries to capture the joy in all she encounters, Fern learns wonderful lessons – one of them being, she can bring joy too!

And I love, love the artwork. Isabelle Follath’s whimsical illustrations fairly pop out of the pages! They easily flow with the storyline as they move from grays and browns while depicting Nanna’s joylessness to colorful and bright as they depict the rest of the story.

The book can be used to enhance discussions about empathy, about fostering healthier and stronger bonds within families, and to simply enjoy reading it!

In Summary

Definitely a must-have. I am glad I discovered this (later than I should have but will now look for it to get the physical copy for myself, and also look for the other books in the series – Hope, which is already out, and Love, coming this year).

And I repeat: What a joy to read this book!

“Joy is what makes your heart happy and your eyes twinkle.”

Goodreads || Amazon || Book Depository || Target ||
Barnes and Noble || IndieBound

Pin Me

“A flower blossoms for its own joy.”
― Oscar Wilde

Disclaimer: Thank you to Edelweiss and the publishers for the original eARC of the book; these are my honest opinions after reading this joyous book.

My ‘J’ Book Stack

The Books

• Jingle Bells Pop-up Book
• Jungle Stories
• Jim Ugly
• Jip, His Story
• Johnny Tremain
• Jasmine
• Johnny Get Your Gun
• Jurassic Park
• Jo’s Boys

Quick Notes

I know I have The Jungle Book (at least two different editions) and Just So Stories as well. Now I just have to find them!

As for the featured books, my kids have read a couple of them. I have read the Jungle Stories to them when they were younger, and the only other one I have read is Jo’s Boys. I hope to get to the others soon!

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Random Thing(s) for ‘J’ Day

I have a couple more words for you to joise today; if you are wondering, joise means to enjoy using or possessing something.

And if I choose to continue my medley of words that are related to confusion, and I choose to, here are two more:

The first one is jabberwock which means nonsense, gibberish. If this sounds familiar to all you Alice in Wonderland fans, then yes, it is Carroll’s invention.

The next one is jargogle. To confuse or jumble something up is to jargogle it. And I love this word. It is delightful to say and use it.

And while not meaning confusion or nonsense, I feel this is somewhat related. The word is jiggumbob which means an indistinct thing; or also called a thingamabob.

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” ― Rumi

And now, the end of this post

So, dear reader, as always, a couple of questions for you. Have you read any of the pictured books in my ‘J’ stack? Any comments on them? Any interesting ‘J’ words or facts for me?

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh

For previous posts, click on the links below:

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Linking up to the April A to Z Blogging Challenge, and the Ultimate Blog Challenge (click on the images to learn more about these challenges)