This Way to Happy
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
From Schneider Family Book Award winner Alison Green Myers comes a heartwarming middle grade novel about loss, friendship, and the many paths we create to happiness.
Growing up at her grandparents' amusement park, Reilly Rhoades spent her life in the glow of bright lights, hard work, and sweet treats. That is until her beloved grandfather died. With Grandpa gone now, the sweetness of the park disappears, and the pride Reilly had for her family’s legacy grows bitter.
Without Grandpa, Reilly’s family fights to keep the park going—spreading happiness to others as they struggle to find it themselves. The strain causes one problem after another to erupt, until the Rhoades family, and their amusement park, comes apart at the seams.
As past traditions clash with today's realities, a new friendship splashes into Reilly’s universe. With epic advice, wild adventures, and a plan (or twenty) for tackling life’s twists and turns, Reilly Rhoades discovers that happiness doesn’t mean you have to choose between the past and the future—sometimes building a bridge connects all the best parts of you!
This Way to Happy is a rollercoaster ride that reminds readers even in the midst of life’s most challenging turns, happiness can be found just around the corner.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Myers (A Bird Will Soar) wields a roller coaster of emotions in this pragmatic novel about how to "find your happy." When white-cued Reilly Rhoades's grandfather—founder of the family's amusement park business—suddenly dies, Reilly's grief feels insurmountable. But the 12-year-old's grandmother, mother, and aunt are determined to carry on the family tradition and open the park for the summer. Underneath the strain of keeping up appearances, however, hairline fractures appear in each of the Rhoades's lives: Mom and Aunt Caroline begin lashing out at each other, and Grandma suffers a medical emergency. Feeling consumed by her grief and the stress at home, Reilly discovers a kindred lonely spirit in reckless, purple-haired Alex, who's staying at the park's adjoining campground and navigating his own family issues. Together, Reilly and Alex plan to make Grandpa's dream to link the park and the campground a reality, in the process charting a course to brighter days. Via the complexly rendered characters—including three generations of strong and personable women—Myers tackles themes of addiction and recovery, divorce, and loss, and suggests that being open to happiness might be the best way to find it. Ages 10–up.
