Happy Birthday to Me

Kids attending a birthday party usually find it a joyous occasion; for the young narrator of Happy Birthday to Me, their birthday party is joyous... and scary... and annoying... and some other adjectives. Thao Lam (My Cat Looks Like My Dad) presents a zippy picture-book look at one gap-toothed kid's big day, and lays bare the even bigger emotions that can accompany it.

The child wakes their mom with a declaration: "I am excited." Nine wardrobe changes later, they announce, "I am.../ ready!" When their friends arrive, the protagonist hides behind their mom: "I am shy." Page after page, the child reports on their morphing feelings as the kids squirt each other with water ("I am daring"), bat at a piñata while blindfolded ("I am mad/ I am frustrated"), and so on. After the party, the child's mother lands on just the word for how they feel: "overwhelmed." Following a restorative cuddle, the child accesses a welcome emotion: despite being one year older, "I feel like me!"

Lam's chunky cut-paper collage art seems tailor-made for a birthday bash. Pages abound with eye-snaring geometric shapes: blocky wrapped presents, a triangular slab of cake, circular and oblong bubble-wand bubbles. Many scenes feature a cameo by a spiky-eared cat whose emotions seem to mirror the narrator's. Happy Birthday to Me offers the gift of amusement and reassurance to readers who have found that being the center of attention makes them feel... well, a whole bunch of ways. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author

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