Son of Happy

Clowns can spark different emotions in people: joy for some, fear in others. This story is told from the perspective of Happy the Clown’s son who shares his inner thoughts about having a father who dresses up as a clown. While the boy once adored his father’s work, his feelings began to change as he grew older.

Happy was passionate about being a clown. He read Clown Times and spent time playing poker and drinking beers while sharing clown stories with friends who were also clowns at birthday parties. He was deeply saddened upon learning that the famous clown whom he considered to be the greatest of all time passed away. His work also began significantly slowing down at this time. To the dismay of his son, Happy desperately posted a sign on the front lawn to advertise his services, but even that did not bring in business. Soon after, he announced to his wife and son that he is going back to his old job. This decision came as a great surprise to his son who was unaware that his father ever had a different job. To the boy’s disbelief, his father was previously a lawyer and the firm that he worked at was hiring him back.

As a result of this new work, things began changing at home. The higher income afforded them greater luxuries in life, like a new skateboard for the boy. Instead of the Clown Times, the boy’s father was now reading Lawyer’s Weekly. While at a sleepover with his friend Teddy Minkoff, the boy thinks out loud in the dark (when Teddy is already asleep) about how it feels weird to have a lawyer for a dad now instead of a clown. He grew concerned for his father and could tell that his father wasn’t as happy as the days when he was Happy. When the boy receives a call on his cellphone (another new luxury) saying that Teddy is lonely in the hospital after having a procedure, the boy decides to dress in the clown costume his father had given him and tells his father that he would like it if Happy could join, too. Both Happy and his son felt nervous about their hospital visit, but they successfully brought joy to Teddy and many other children. At the end of the story, the boy notices a slight change in his father’s lawyer work attire which embraces his old job as Happy.

Some of the content in this story, such as poker and beer, in addition to the book’s length, makes Son of Happy more suitable for the home library of an upper elementary-aged child. This age group is also more likely to relate to the young boy’s mixed emotions that he works through. There are subtle details in the artwork that older children may notice or adults may intentionally point out. For example, in the beginning pages of the story, the boy has strokes of blue in his face and is surrounded by a grey cloud—a symbol of how he is feeling. On the illustration that shows him dreaming of his dad having a regular job, only half of his face has blue in it.

Although the characters sketched by illustrator Milan Pavolić are lifelike, the colours making them up are not. Sometimes hands and feet are outlined in red, or arms are filled in blue, yellow, and purple. If (or when) readers notice this, they may inquire as to why this is so and make predictions about the potential meanings behind these abstract colours. Pavolić, a Canadian illustrator of picture books, also teaches visual communication and illustration at OCAD University and Seneca College.

Author Cary Fagan has written a number of books for children that have resulted in his winning, among others, the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, the Jewish Book Award, the IODE Jean Throop Book Award and the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award.

Son of Happy is recommended for children who are going through age-related changes that can sometimes cause a rift or friction in their relationship with parents. The boy in this story can identify his emotions throughout, but he can’t seem to fully understand them. When he invites his father to the hospital as Happy, this act brings joy to his father, the hospital children, and, in turn, to himself. This ending sends the audience the message that love and happiness matter more than any image and that it is perfectly ok to experience an array of emotions.