Tull Suwannakit, Happy Hoppy Home, Scholastic, August 2021, 24 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781742999937
Papa Hare is a single parent, raising his four children Dot, Pip, Pat, and Baby Cottontail in a tiny burrow. The hares love their happy home, but they seem to have outgrown it! Dot wants to practise ballet, but she doesn’t have enough room because Pip and Pat want to play their games, and Baby Cottontail wants to sleep. They just can’t do everything at the same time. So Papa Hare packs them up, and they go off in search of a bigger burrow. It takes their quest to figure out what they really want and what truly makes a happy home.
Happy Hoppy Home is a lovely story exploring the concepts of family and home. It is told in a gentle rhythm, with beautiful lilting prose and a sprinkling of big words to help little readers gain new vocabulary.
The book also takes a positive view on single parenthood – particularly single fatherhood, which is not commonly explored in picture books. Happy Hoppy Home shows a single father’s dedication and just how far he will go to give his children what they need. Together as a complete family, the Hare family explore the concept of what a diverse, loving home can be and what it means to be in a family filled with love.
Happy Hoppy Home was written and illustrated by Tull Suwannakit, a skilled illustrator with many books under his belt. This is yet another of his relatable, quirky stories that young readers will ask for time and time again, following the hares’ path through burrows and tunnels.
A tale about loving your family and your home, Happy Hoppy Home is a book for everyone.
Reviewed by Geni Kuckhahn
