THE JAR OF LAUGHTER

In Yi’s debut picture book, a boy who has never experienced friendship is given a jar full of laughter that can only be opened when shared.

“In a quiet old town, where the gloom spread for miles, / lived Larry, a boy who had never known smiles.” So begins the tale of a young child who owns lots of toys, but has no friends. One day, when looking out across the drab expanse of city streets, Larry sees a splash of color­—a woman festooned in purple, green, and red scarves and skirts, selling jars from a pushcart. When Larry speaks into one of the jars, joyous laughter bursts forth in response! This attracts the attention of red-headed Lizzy, who wants to join in. Larry is reluctant at first, but when he does share the jar, the laughter that Lizzy invokes proves infectious. Soon, other children come, and then adults, too, adding to the merriment until the whole town is happily united. Yi narrates by way of rhyming verse and squeezing the storyline to match the end rhymes. The notion that happiness stems from friendship, rather than material possessions, is a valuable one for children to explore, and it’s served well by Moone’s illustrations—textured meldings of pencil, ink, and gouache paint that lend a dreamy veneer to both the drab beginnings and the subsequent vibrant outpourings. Larry is a peachy-skinned, dark-haired cutie, and the town and its people are a cosmopolitan, diverse lot.

A gorgeously illustrated story with a sweet moral about shared experiences.