This Way to Happy – Alison Green Myers

From Schneider Family Book Award Winner Alison Green Myers, a contemporary middle grade about a girl seeking her own joy amidst the enforced happiness of the amusement park where she lives with her family.Reilly Rhoades lives on the grounds of the amusement park her grandparents founded. ItÂ’s called Rhoades Family Amusements, and its motto is “The H is for Happy!”Shortly before the beginning of the book, ReillyÂ’s extremely charismatic grandfather died suddenly, leaving ReillyÂ’s grandmother, mother, and aunt to run the park and maintain the façade of family happiness.Prretending to be happy, it turns out, is deeply unhappy work, especially in a town full of billboards featuring her dead grandfather“s face. No wonder Reilly and her family start to come apart at the seams as soon as the park opens for the summer.When Reilly is at her lowest, she meets Alex, a boy her age whoÂ’s a guest at the park with his family for “forced family fun” shortly after his mother remarries. Together, they discover what actually makes them feel content and how following the big signs that promise happiness doesnÂ’t always lead where you want to be.