What Makes You Happy

Written by Marie-Agnès Gaudrat and beautifully illustrated by the painter Carme Solé Vendrell, "What Makes You Happy?" is a joyous invitation for children of all ages to ponder and explore what is truly important in life.

What makes us happy? To fear the unknown? Or to be curious about new experiences? To use up what exists until it is gone? Or to take care of what exists, so that we may always enjoy it?

In thirteen brilliantly painted scenes, Gaudrat and Vendrell pose simple, open-ended questions about what it means to be happy. But rather than offering a set of ready-made answers and morals, this book encourages children to think and feel for themselves. And invites families to engage with topics like altruism, curiosity, selfishness, and benevolence, to inspire children to make up their own minds about how best to live, love and care for themselves and others.

About the Author

Carme Solé Vendrell is an internationally recognised Spanish artist who has illustrated books from all over the world. She has a unique way of working with light, distributing colours on the page and conveying the emotions of her characters.

About the Illustrator

Marie-Agnès Gaudrat is a senior editor at Bayard Presse who has authored numerous texts for the series Les Belles histoires de Pomme dApi, including the bestseller at the start of every school year for the last ten years, Le Petit Ogre veut aller à lécole, and the very successful series La Famille Cochon. She has also written most of the stories in the series Léo et Popi, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. Les Arènes has previously published her LImagier malin.