THE PUPPET'S SMILE

A puppet learns the importance of expressing emotion in this Chinese import.

An old carpenter makes a puppet, remembering to give it a nose and eyes. Oh, and a smile so the puppet can be happy. With a permanent smile upon his face, the clownish puppet ventures out into the city, where he encounters a sly fox. The incident is terribly distressing, but no one believes that a smiling puppet could be anything but happy. Finally, a kindly witch gives the miserable toy a gift. Puppet realizes, “You can’t be happy if you can’t smile. But feeling everything else is just as important.” The illustrations of this fablelike story have a childlike whimsy, with their tilted perspectives and exaggerated movements. Thick, crayon-y lines and the occasional splash of ink augment cut-paper elements. The text is brief, moving the story along briskly. The decorative type it’s printed in is playful, yet the frequent changes in size and orientation are visually overwhelming at times. The concluding moral about the importance of feeling and showing emotions could act as a conversational springboard, but it also reinforces the false idea that the only acceptable way to express emotion is the typical way. Indeed, might the old carpenter be the one in need of a lesson about emotions rather than his creation? The puppet, witch, and carpenter all have pale skin. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 36% of actual size.)

This picture book about expressing emotions comes with good intentions but an outdated message.