Strum a Tune when you’re Happy: Kei Te Pai

'Strum a tune when you’re happy: kei te pai’ is the fourth book by author/illustrator Rebecca Larsen. It begins with a spoken verse to set the scene, then follows the tune ‘if you’re happy and you know it’. Each verse talks about an emotion, a musical instrument that represents that emotion, and an action you can do to express or work through the emotion.

Illustrations show native birds and animals playing the relevant instruments for that verse and performing the actions mentioned. A different colour is assigned to each emotion via the illustrations, but these colours are not mentioned in the song.

Each page contains text in both te reo Māori (top of the page), and English (bottom of the page), and the accompanying CD has 3 versions of the song – English, te reo Māori, and musical accompaniment only. There is also a QR code provided for those who prefer to listen online.

At the back of the book there is a musical score for kaiako or ākonga who want to play the song themselves, and there is also a handy 1-page reminder of the different emotions, instruments and colours mentioned in the song. Note that there are also free craft and colouring pages that link to this book (and others she has written) available to download from the author's website.

When I first picked up the book and tried to read it aloud, I struggled with fitting the words into each line, but once I had listened to the CD it was much easier. That being said, I think this story works best when sung rather than read.

As an illustrator, Larsen has done a good job expressing emotion in her animal characters, and I really liked the way that colour is visually linked to each emotion. I was confused about the addition of a lovebird, given they are not native to Aotearoa, but the media release I received mentioned this was added due to a special memory for the author.

I am sure that ‘Strum a Tune when you’re Happy: Kei Te Pai’ will be a helpful resource for teachers as they help younger students learn about and navigate their emotions