Where Dani goes happy follows by Rose Lagercrantz illustrated by Eva Eriksson

If only all early chapter books were this beautifully conceived. New York Times (on My Happy Life)

Dani is desperately missing her best friend Ella who has moved far away. Her father needs some time away so he has headed off to Rome and Dani has to stay with her grandparents. Dani has a brilliant idea. It's Ella's birthday. Dani can deliver a gift. The gift is not a thing it is Dani herself. Dani just needs to get to Northbrook. Grandma cannot take her because she has visitors coming, Grandpa cannot take her because the car is in for repair so a decision is made that Dani can go by herself on the train. Grandma phones Ella's mum Sonja and the arrangements are all set.

This is not a smooth adventure. In fact it is filled with disappointment.  The ending will make you smile but not in the way you expect.

I am late coming to this series. I may have read the first book, My happy life, but I only have a vague memory of doing this. This latest book can stand alone but I am planning to read the whole series in the right order over the coming weeks. These are very short books so it won't take me long to catch up with the first five titles and they are filled with fabulous illustrations. 

In my former school library these books were very, very popular. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for giving me number six in the "My Happy Life" series.  This series is from Sweden. I love the way Gecko Press pick up on books from other countries. The translator is Julia Marshall. Rose Lagercrantz and Eva Eriksson are both previous winners of the Astrid Lindgren Prize.

There is a sadness to these stories but they are also filled with optimism. The tone and emotional themes are very different from some of the books we offer our younger readers here in Australia. Dani's mother died when she was very young. Dani's father is often sad. Life is not always a smooth journey for Dani but somehow she pushes through. In each book Dani gets a little older and perhaps a little wiser about the ways of the world.

You can read about each book by clicking each of these links to the Kirkus reviews (several of them have a Kirkus Star):

1. My Happy Life

2. My Heart is Laughing

3. When I'm Happiest

4. Life according to Dani

5. See you when I see you

6. Where Dani goes happy follows

Writing with exceptional insight and humor, author Lagercrantz develops Dani’s emotional maturity in this story, giving her a growing awareness of both life’s complexity and adult fallibility, all the while maintaining Dani’s bone-deep optimism. Kirkus