Put on a Hoppy Face!

Regular Contributor Lindy Michaels of BookStar on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City claps her hands with approval for IF YOU’RE HOPPY ($16.99, HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books, ages 2-5), written by April Pulley Sayre with illustrations by Jackie Urbanovic.

Who doesn’t know and love the musical ditty, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands…?” But what if you’re HOPPY and you know it? What are you? Are you a frog? A bunny? What, I ask! Since they’re all HOPPY, you could be any of them or more, right?

Now, let’s see… what if you’re SLOPPY and you know it, what are you? No, no, your extremely messy children don’t count. But they will love this sing-songy, adorable, colorfully illustrated book as they try and guess who is GROWLY and FLAPPY and… well, you get the picture.

What I love about IF YOU’RE HOPPY is that it’s fun and silly and will even encourage little ones to come up with their own thoughts on who is hoppy and floppy and so on and so on!

But a warning! You can’t just read IF YOU’RE HOPPY. No, no, no. I insist that you sing it! And that will make you and your tots… happy. And if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!

The very versatile Lindy Michaels aims to inspire young minds through children’s literature. Lindy owned L.A.’s first children’s bookshop, OF BOOKS AND SUCH (1972-1987) where she did storytelling, taught drama to children, had art and poetry contests and the like. According to Lindy, “It was truly a ‘land of enchantment.” She also spent years lecturing on realism in children’s literature at colleges in the state. For close to five years Lindy has worked for Studio City Barnes and Noble (BookStar) in the children’s section and does storytelling every Saturday at 10:30 a.m.