Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday to Me

Written by: Lam, Thao
Illustrated by: Lam, Thao
ages 3 to 6 / grades P to 1

How does it feel to turn a year older? A child runs through a spectrum of emotions on the best day of the year, their birthday!

A child runs through a spectrum of emotions on the best day of the year—their birthday! Early-morning excitement gives way to shyness at the arrival of guests, hunger for cake, a craze for arts and crafts, and some real piñata problems. So how can a kid possibly answer that age old question: "How does it feel to be a year older?" 

From bestselling picture-book creator Thao Lam comes this irrepressible celebration of emotions, captured in a rainbow of cut-paper collage. Happy Birthday to Me makes for the perfect birthday present or anytime-guide to naming our feelings.


Key Text Features

Illustrations


Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4

Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

How does it feel to turn a year older? A child runs through a spectrum of emotions on the best day of the year, their birthday!

A child runs through a spectrum of emotions on the best day of the year—their birthday! Early-morning excitement gives way to shyness at the arrival of guests, hunger for cake, a craze for arts and crafts, and some real piñata problems. So how can a kid possibly answer that age old question: "How does it feel to be a year older?" 

From bestselling picture-book creator Thao Lam comes this irrepressible celebration of emotions, captured in a rainbow of cut-paper collage. Happy Birthday to Me makes for the perfect birthday present or anytime-guide to naming our feelings.


Key Text Features

Illustrations


Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4

Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

Published By Groundwood Books Ltd — Apr 4, 2023
Specifications 44 pages | 9.5 in x 9 in
Written By

THAO LAM is the best-selling, critically acclaimed author/illustrator of Happy Birthday to Me, THAO, My Cat Looks Like My Dad, and The Paper Boat, named a best book of 2020 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, the Globe and Mail, CBC, and others. She studied illustration at Sheridan College and has an insatiable love of colored and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Illustrated by

THAO LAM is the best-selling, critically acclaimed author/illustrator of Happy Birthday to Me, THAO, My Cat Looks Like My Dad, and The Paper Boat, named a best book of 2020 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, the Globe and Mail, CBC, and others. She studied illustration at Sheridan College and has an insatiable love of colored and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Written By

THAO LAM is the best-selling, critically acclaimed author/illustrator of Happy Birthday to Me, THAO, My Cat Looks Like My Dad, and The Paper Boat, named a best book of 2020 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, the Globe and Mail, CBC, and others. She studied illustration at Sheridan College and has an insatiable love of colored and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Illustrated by

THAO LAM is the best-selling, critically acclaimed author/illustrator of Happy Birthday to Me, THAO, My Cat Looks Like My Dad, and The Paper Boat, named a best book of 2020 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, the Globe and Mail, CBC, and others. She studied illustration at Sheridan College and has an insatiable love of colored and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Audience ages 3 to 6 / grades P to 1
Key Text Features

Illustrations

Commended, Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year, 2024

Worthy of a celebration, this is a multifaceted yet child-friendly exploration of the big emotions associated with birthdays. STARRED REVIEW

” —Kirkus

Lam, as usual, has a finger on the pulse of a child's life, and this self-centric version is absolutely spot-on in corralling just how important a birthday is to a preschooler. STARRED REVIEW

” —School Library Journal

Colorful, intricate cut-paper collages … capture the high-flying, many-layered feelings of a kid at the center of a birthday celebration.

” —Publishers Weekly

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.

” —Shelf Awareness

This is a lovely story that will help young readers sort through the big feelings that come with birthday celebrations, complete with the ups and downs that expectations can bring.

” —Canadian Children's Book News

Lam's paper craft illustrations are intricate and layered, creating a rich, textured reading experience … Happy Birthday to Me is a clever and calming ode to all the emotions we feel on the 'best' days of our lives, good and bad.

” —CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Happy Birthday to Me by author-illustrator Thao Lam, is a beautiful book. The illustrations are gorgeous and the simple message is timeless. 

” —Quebec Library Association