THE HAPPY HUT

Memories of family visits to Grandpa Martin’s beach hut resonate through the years.

The book’s young narrator explains that it feels as though the sun is always shining on the bright yellow “happy hut.” Each season brings with it its own delights. In spring, Grandpa Martin leads the way as the protagonist and two siblings explore the seashore. In summer, they picnic on the deck, splash in the ocean, and spend evenings listening to Grandpa Martin’s stories and counting the stars. Fall is the protagonist’s favorite season—when the “Happy Hut Helpers” paint and make necessary repairs. Winter means chilly shore walks and cozy gatherings around the little stove. But Grandpa Martin’s illness changes everything. While the family visits him in the hospital, the hut remains alone and empty—and perhaps lonely, the narrator worries. That winter, a storm rages, and the family returns the following spring to find the hut battered and broken. But they all pitch in, mending, painting, and installing a nameplate labeled “Martin” to commemorate their grandfather, who has apparently passed (his death isn’t explicitly mentioned). Hopgood writes with a light touch, folding in homey details that fully realize Grandfather Martin (his love of woolly socks and slippers, his habit of shouting “Flipping fiddlesticks!”). In the collagelike illustrations, the brown-skinned characters are simple in composition—dots for eyes, a curve of a mouth—while the richly textured backdrops reflect both the characters’ roiling emotions and the shifting seasons.

Joyous, warm, and tender.